Surprises

Part Nineteen

Dara found Mike dozing on the sofa. As she closed the door, she tried not to disturb him. When she turned around, he was awake and staring at her.

"Hi."

He gave her a hesitant smile in response. "Hello. Do you mind if I call you Dara?"

She shrugged. "Of course not. Do you mind if I call you Mike? Have you seen Hope?"

He shook his head. "No, I didn't want to bother her. She should come down when she wakes up, right?"

Dara nodded. "I think so. I told her we could do some shopping on the Internet." She nodded toward Jason's computer, which was near the dining area. "Her eyes lit up at that, so I'm sure she won't waste time upstairs. Can I get you something while we wait?"

"I don't need anything," Sonny's father answered. "I'd like to talk to you. If that's okay with you."

"I don't mind." She sat on the chair adjacent to Mike who was on the sofa. "I'm sure you have some questions about Sonny and my past..."

Mike shook his head. "No, Michael explained that to me."

"Okay," she said, frowning slightly. "What do you want to talk about?"

"My granddaughter and my son."

That seemed fair enough. "What about them? If you're worried that I don't want you in Hope's life, don't be. The more people around who cares about her, the better off she'll be. She needs stability."

"We all do," he said not unkindly. "Michael needs it, too."

Dara's eyes narrowed. What was Mike getting at? "Excuse me?"

He released a short, embarrassed laugh. "No, wait. I'm not playing matchmaker."

"Then what are you doing?" she asked.

"Michael doesn't know what a stable life is," Mike explained. "When I left him... Do you know about that?"

She nodded. Michael had told her everything all those years ago.

"Well, Adela tried to give him stability when she married Deke. It backfired. Michael is a good man, but he could be better. Today, it was just a car backfiring. Tomorrow, it could be something worse."

Goosebumps sprang to attention on Dara's arms. Without meaning to, she stood and began to pace. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know. Why are you telling me this?"

"Convince him to walk away."

A harsh snort escaped her. "Do you really think he'll listen to me? You have to know Michael better than that."

Mike stood and went to her. His pale eyes pleaded for her to listen. "You have leverage that I don't have."

Dara stopped in her tracks. "You want me to use Hope?"

The older man nodded. "Tell him he can't see her unless--"

"I can't do that," Dara said, giving him a hard stare.

"He said that what happened today scared her and now, she won't talk to him."

"It did," she admitted, "but I can't use her. She's been used enough. I won't do that to her."

"Sometimes the ends justify the means."

# # #

The apartment over Jason's new garage wasn't much, but it was clean. Later, he planned to hire a contractor to make the place better, livable.

He heard a car door slam and went to the kitchen window. Keesha was climbing out of the car. The first sight of her stirred him. It was almost like he could feel the blood flowing in his veins. He backed away from the window and glanced around the apartment.