Chapter 3

The Mustang's headlights glared off the chrome of parked cars as he wheeled into the lot at the mall. Rob pulled out his cell phone and pressed the newly programmed speed dial for Elaina. He pulled into a conveniently open space as the phone rang ... and rang and rang, finally falling through to voicemail. Giving up on Elaina, he looked up the contact for Dawn, thinking he'd have to take the time to assign her to speed dial. This time there was an answer.

Hey, Rob! Are you here yet?

"I'm in the parking lot. You guys at the entrance?"

We're headed there now. We'll be about five minutes.

"Okay. I'll wait in the lot until I see you at the doors, then I'll pull up."

Sounds like a plan! See you in a few. There was a brief hesitation. I love you.

"Love you, too, Dawn. See you in a few." He closed the phone gently and put it away with a sigh.

Looking around carefully, he pulled out of the space and piloted the Mustang to a 'tiger' lane from which he could see the entrance. He had barely settled in when he saw them exit the mall, and he guided the car over to them. Seeing the bags in their hands, he shut down the engine and got out to open the trunk. He also snagged the bag containing Elaina's armor and snuck that in behind the bags they deposited in the trunk.

A little yellow-and-white-striped three-wheeled cart scooted in behind them, and the guy driving it gave them a chirp of his siren. Rob looked down at the words "Loading Zone" painted on the blacktop then looked at the mall parking lot security representative who was glaring at him. Rob gestured at the open trunk, and the guard made move-along gestures back. Rob was moving toward the guy, his hackles up, when he heard the trunk slam. He was halfway there when two pairs of slender hands each grabbed a bicep.

"Whoa there, he-man," Dawn cajoled from one side. "No need to harass the rent-a-cop over his petty tyranny. Come on, let's just go, all right?"

On his other side, Elaina said, "He's not worth it, Rob." She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "You could probably flip his little tricycle on its back if you wanted to, but is it really worth it?"

Rob backed down with ill grace, glaring at the little man in his scooter the whole time.

"Bet you wouldn't try that if it was a limo parked there, would you, little man?" Rob shouted to the man quaking in his seat. A trickle of sweat crept down from under his snappy little hat.

Returning to the car, he opened his door so Dawn could get in; Elaina let herself in from the other side, keeping her eyes on Rob throughout. She only got in after he went to sit down himself. Rob started the Mustang and punched the gas, making the engine race gleefully until the alcove resonated to its roar. Dawn covered her ears and Elaina pulled a face at him. The scooter backed out and made a u-turn, putt-putting off into the darkness.

He let the engine idle down and the reverberations died.

"Feel better now?" Elaina asked sarcastically. Dawn cautiously lowered her hands from her ears.

"No, but that wasn't really the point," he growled. "Little man puts on a big hat, he's still a little man. I just wanted to remind him of that." Elaina rolled her eyes and Dawn giggled. "What do you guys want for dinner, anyway?" Rob felt funny asking Elaina that and wondered how she was going to pull it off.

"I don't care," offered Dawn.

"How about sushi?" Elaina asked, getting a nod from Dawn and a questioning look from Rob. "I could go for a nice bowl of miso soup myself," she continued. Rob smiled.

Dawn said she wasn't sure what to get, so Rob asked her to trust him.

"Of course I trust you," she said, feeling put out. "Just don't get anything too weird."

Rob pulled out his phone again, reflecting he'd never used it so much before, and dialed 411. Getting the number for a place near home, he let the system dial it for him and he placed the order.

"It'll be ready just about the time we get home," he said, snapping his phone shut. "We'll stop on the way in and pick it up." The ladies smiled their agreement with his plan.

He dropped the transmission into first, feeling the Mustang surge as if eager to get going, and eased up on the clutch, gliding easily into mall traffic.

Rob watched as Elaina carefully scraped her spoon along the edge of her bowl, being sure to get nothing but broth as she ate. She raised a sardonic brow at him when she caught him watching, and she made a point of slurping noisily at her spoonful of broth.

Dawn chattered on happily, apparently ignorant of the way the two were acting. She even offered Elaina a taste of the roll she was eating from.

"Careful," Elaina said. "I hate it when a fork scrapes my teeth."

She took it delicately when Dawn gently placed the fork in her mouth, keeping her lips over her teeth. Rob's eyes grew wide as he watched Elaina chew and swallow, pronouncing it good but not to her taste.

When Dawn looked down to her plate for the next morsel, Rob almost laughed when Elaina pushed the unchewed bit of fish and rice out from under her tongue into a handy napkin. She quickly balled it up and dropped it into the empty take-out bag at her side. There were a number of balled-up napkins by the end of the meal.

Rob was more than happy to listen to Dawn talk. She seemed to be able to talk about anything and everything, offering a cheery opinion on almost any topic. That's when Elaina decided Rob had been silent long enough.

"So, baby-sitting, huh?" she asked, giving him a considering look. "How was that?" Dawn looked at him too, curiosity writ large on her smiling face.

"Not too bad," he replied, hoping to get away with telling them as little as possible. "They were pretty good kids and we got along all right. Mom was happy; she finally had some kids in the house again."

Innocently, Dawn asked, "Whose kids were they?" Rob sighed. "Anyone we know?"

"They were Jillian and William Downey," he answered. Elaina's eyes opened wide and her lips popped open, exposing the tips of her fangs.

"That name sounds familiar," Dawn said, furrowing her brow as she tried to remember where.

"You met their grandmother at Tony's one day, along with my mother," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah! Now I remember," she said excitedly. "Wait, didn't you say she was Patty's mother..." She trailed off as she saw where this was going.

"Yeah," Rob said heavily. "They were Patty's kids."

"Oh, Rob. How did that go?" Dawn asked sympathetically.

"Actually," he said with surprise in his voice, "It went pretty well. Billy wanted to know right up front who I was, acting the little warrior." He chortled briefly at the memory. "Stood right up to me, and there I was standing there in my duster and hat. He asked me later if I was a bounty hunter."

They all got a laugh out of that, Elaina's sounding a little forced.

"What about the girl, Gilliam I think you said?" Dawn asked next.

"Jillian, yes. She was a tougher nut," he said sadly. "She asked me why I'd made her mother cry."

Dawn made sympathetic noises while Elaina watched him, keeping her eyes on his. He looked back with regret in his eyes.

"Rob..." she started warningly.

"It's okay, Elaina," Rob said. "You know me: I hate to make a woman cry, even at a distance. I don't want her back; I just feel sorry for her. She made her own bed."

Elaina sat back, plainly unconvinced, but she nodded her head anyway.

"When their movie was over," he said, getting back to the kids, "They came to the kitchen for a snack." He snorted. "That Billy is all boy. He hadn't even sat down and he had an entire cookie crammed in his mouth. Reminded me of me at that age.

"Jillian is definitely all girl," he continued. "She sat at the table all prim and proper, nibbling at her cookie and taking sips of her milk. And then, when Mom's back was turned, she leaned over and asked if I'd dated her mom."

"Oh, my goodness!" Dawn cried with her fingers on her lips. "How did you handle that?"

"I never got the chance. The next thing she said was 'You could have been my daddy.'" Rob stopped, too choked up to go on. The women sat with wide eyes, waiting for him to recover.

"I told her that was true," he said once he'd regained his composure, "But I knew that wasn't what she was after. So I asked her what she really wanted to know.

"She asked me why I wasn't her dad." He barked a harsh laugh. "She said her mom had told her she'd made a mistake. I told her if it was a mistake, then it was a good mistake, because she wouldn't be here otherwise.

"Billy finally caught on that something was up, and he asked about me being his dad too. He said..." Rob stopped to clear his throat " ... if I couldn't be his dad, maybe I could be his uncle instead."

"Oh, wow!" Dawn said, and Elaina watched Rob with intense emotion on her face.

"They adopted me," he said with a tight throat. "I'm Uncle Rob now."

"You just keep on amazing me," Elaina said, awestruck. "Every time I think I've seen all sides of you, you come up with something else."

She stood up and climbed into his lap, laying her head on his shoulder. Dawn looked on, envious that she hadn't thought of it first. Elaina looked up and motioned her over, making room for her to join them. Elaina was now perched on his knees holding on to one shoulder. Dawn wiggled her ample hips between them and sat delicately, afraid of hurting him or knocking her off. Rob circled his arms around them both and pulled in, squashing Dawn a bit as he did so. Elaina did the same with her arms and Dawn found herself caged in by the people she was starting to love.