Thick & Thin (Thin Love, #3)(79)

“I saw Simone and her boy this morning.” A small flash moved behind Mom’s eyes at the mention of Simone’s name, but Dad was swift enough, hanging on to a bit of that remaining charm to squash her judgment before it came. “We weren’t alone. Diner with lots of people and both her son and ours chaperoning.” Mom nodded, but didn’t speak, something that seemed to get under Kona’s skin. He exhaled, grabbing her hand before he moved his head, trying to catch her attention. “Ku`u Lei, in thirteen years, I haven’t ever looked at another woman. Why in God’s name would I? He made my perfect match right here.” Dad rested his hand against Mom’s chest, just above her heart before he drifted his palm up, holding her face between his fingers. “He made these beautiful, tempting lips that taste like honey and home and everything I need to fill me up.” Kona kissed my mother and I could not look away, not even when that kiss lingered. “Nani makamae, precious pilialo …why would I ever want anyone else in the world when I have my Wildcat right here, loving me, giving me all my babies, making my life so charmed, so blessed?”

Aly leaned against me, seeming taken by the personal moment my parents did not hide. We were accustomed to their affection. My parents were open, unabashed with their kisses, their touches. Aly had seen, had heard first-hand how the loss of sixteen years seemed to push Mom and Dad forward so that every possible minute were spent together, loving each other because so much time had been spent alone. Because the heart that has been broken needs time, lots and lots of it, to mend.

I knew that. The past four years had taught me that. And so it was no great shock that my parents needed a moment to explain, to do that with touches, though tentative, with kisses that were long and slow, neither of them caring one damn bit who might be watching.

“Should we give them a moment?” Aly whispered and I closed my eyes at the sweet hint of her breath against my ear.

“No,” Kona said, looking over his shoulder to watch us. “No, I want this said first.” He moved his attention back to Mom, sitting next to her with his knees touching her thigh. “It didn’t take long for Simone to admit the truth.”

“Which was?”

“That conniving pretty boy Cass told her you and I were divorcing.” Dad nodded at Mom’s dropped mouth. “She was desperate, bought it, thought that if she said I’d fathered her son that I’d throw money at her to keep it quiet, just to avoid the gossip, the rumor that maybe I was some loser who had been unfaithful. Things got a little out of hand, she said, when I didn’t immediately cave but by then Cass had convinced her to get the press involved. Guess he thought by that time you would have figured something was up with me.” Dad rested his hand against Mom’s shoulder, twisting the ends of her hair around his finger. “As soon as I got to her, she caved. She’s not…” Dad licked his lips as though his words had dried his mouth. “She’s sick and desperate and she’s got a fourteen-year-old kid that’s gonna be left with nothing if she doesn’t get better. She saw it as a way to take care of him, when...well, to make sure he’d have something when she died.”

“But wasn’t she planning a DNA test?” Aly said, looking between me when I laughed and my father’s scowl.

“Yeah, well, if you know what you’re doing and you have a little cash, you can pretty much buy the results you want,” Dad said, shaking his head at me. Mom too didn’t seem amused by the memory of Kona’s mother once buying test results that claimed Luka, my late uncle, had fathered me and not Dad. Thankfully my mother had her own backup plan and my grandmother's interference eventually came to nothing. Still, the mention of DNA testing was a bit of a sore subject with my parents.

“Well,” Mom said, pulling our attention back to her when she stood. “I sent Cass packing. Didn't think I’d ever see his face again. But I’m sure I can get him back here within an hour. All I’d have to do is make something up, tell him I want to apologize for kicking him out. With an ego like his, he’ll buy it, no questions asked.”

“Why’d you kick him out?” Dad ask and I winced, willing my mother not to tell him what had happened. I’d spent much of the morning telling Dad about Sara’s phone call, but hadn’t told him a thing about Cass hitting on Mom. He was just too much of a jealous hot head when it came to her. She seemed to remember that too because Mom tried ignoring my father’s question, grabbing the dirty mugs off the table, but Dad stopped her, taking the dishes from her. When he spoke, he at least sounded calm. “Keira. Why did you kick him out?”

“Good lord, Kona,” she said through an exhale, “because he tried to kiss me.”

I couldn’t tell if the breaking mug had come from Mom trying to get it out of Dad’s hands or from my father’s snap of temper. The softness that had relaxed his features when he first approached my mother vanished in the reveal of another man trying to hone in on his wife. I’d seen my father become possessive if some guy stared a little too long at Mom. Those were random strangers. I worried about what he’d do to Cass for trying to kiss her.

“You get him here, Wildcat.”

“I will,” she told him, folding her arms across her chest. “But you need to leave.”

“What?” There was a mixture of shock and a little devastation paling my father’s dark complexion as his anger left him with Mom’s demand. “Why?”