Chapter Sixty Two
Dave could feel his anger surge through him as he lurched at Johnson, grabbing his neck and pinning him hard against the wall, “You idiot!” he yelled, “It’s been over a week, and now is when you decide to tell us!”
Johnson held Dave’s wrist, “I have people looking for him and there are some in the hospital now.” he choked out, “He won’t be able to come anywhere near here if he’s still alive. I promise.”
“No, I’ll take care of this. Maria is not to know about this fool’s mistake.” Miguel marched down the hallway leaving Dave alone with Johnson.
Dave let go of him and turned to the door, his fingers in his hair. This was going to destroy Maria, she was finally free and if she found out that her freedom was elusive, it would crush her. She was going to be even more scared, and she was going to run again, that he was sure of. She couldn’t find out about this. Miguel said he was going to take care of it, and Dave was sure he would. How long do they have to wait until the nightmare is finally over?
“How is it he keeps resurrecting from the dead?” Dave half yelled, punching the wall.
“That’s what I said.” Johnson spoke behind him, “But why do we keep assuming he’s alive, maybe he had an accomplice, or someone was kind enough to get rid of the body for us.”
Dave turned and looked at him, restraining himself from jumping him again, “Why are you still standing here and not looking for that bastard?”
Johnson took the cue loud and clear. Without a word, he rushed away. Dave took a deep breath before he went back into the room. Maria was wide awake with a confused look on her face, “Why are you guys shouting?” Dave pulled his best fake smile and moved to sit next to her on the bed, “A little disagreement, nothing for you to worry about.” he pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head.
“It sounded like you and Miguel were shouting at someone and not each other.”
“One of his men.” Dave began a swift lie, “came into the building armed.”
Maria exhaled, “I understand why he feels the need to be here, but why do his thugs have to be here too?”
“Are you ever going to forgive your father?” Dave asked, glad the subject had changed.
“I have.” she leaned against him, “It’s just, I don’t know what the next step is.”
“A hug and an ‘I love you daddy’ would be nice.” He put an arm around her, careful not to press down on her injured side.
“After crawling comes walking, then running, so how about we cool our jets?” It would be easier to do that, forget everything and start calling the man papa. Dave, Michael and Edna would love that, but she wasn’t there just yet. She had accepted he was now a constant in her life, but she didn’t trust him yet.
“I know it’s going to take some time to trust him, but you can be nice to him in the meantime.”
Maria turned to look up at him, “What do you mean?”
“Your words to him are always less than five, when he comes next to you, you freeze or make an effort not to pull away and you pretend to be asleep when you’re alone with him.”
Maria felt embarrassed that Dave had noticed all that, but she wasn’t going to force herself to like him, “Okay Sherlock Holmes, what do you suggest I do?”
He kissed her lips lightly before he leaned back on her bed and pulled her against him, “What you did with me. I could see you were uncomfortable sometimes when I was around you without the kids, but we still had long, fifteen-word conversations.”
“That’s different, I liked Izzy and Michael liked you and you were funny.” she weaved her fingers with his then brought them up to her lips for a kiss, “And the lost look in your eyes was familiar to me and yet you still made me feel safe around you.”
“What lost look?” Dave asked, perplexed.
Maria laughed, “You might have everything in your life under your control, but when it came to Izzy, you were always scared and lost.”
“That’s true, but you handled that situation for me like a pro.”
“Well, it’s the least I could do. You’ve done so much for me and Michael. You put him in school, gave us a home and kept us safe and happy.”
“Not exactly.” The cheer in Dave’s voice was completely gone. Was there an accomplice or was Ricky still alive? Which of the two was worse to deal with, the devil they knew or a stranger they had no idea was in the picture in the first place. For all he knew, he could be someone close to them just waiting to pick up where Ricky left off.
This nightmare was never going to end.
Maria raised her hand and placed it on her cheek, “I shouldn’t have run off alone, so what happened isn’t your fault.” she rubbed her slung arm gently with her fingers before she weaved them with his. She remembered how she got the gash on her hand, but she couldn’t remember how her shoulder got dislocated, “And besides, if you were there, he would have killed you. I’m happy how things turned out, I may be bruised and broken, but what matters is that I’m safe and happy.”
Dave’s jaw tightened at the thought of Ricky and his side kick. He would gladly trade places with Maria, but the only card left to play was killing Ricky and making sure he stayed dead this time. He placed his head on top of hers and put both arms around her, “You’ll always be safe and happy, and that I promise you.”
“So, does that mean you’ll take care of my ‘papa’ situation?” She asked hopefully. Whatever solution he had to make her comfortable around Miguel and keep everyone happy, she’d take it.
Dave laughed, “There is nothing I can do to fix that for you and anyway, you are the only one who can take care of your ‘papa situation’.”