Because, she knew now, she was in love with him. Maybe she always had been, but the depth of that love was finally clear to her.

And if Hunter woke up feeling just a little of what she felt, he’d run far and fast. Today’s birthday party had shown her why his walls were so high and how much damage she’d done. If Molly had held out hope of convincing Hunter she’d changed, that she was ready for everything he had to give if only he’d offer it to her again, his reaction to the party told her how difficult her mission would be.

His past had seen to that. Her rejection had merely compounded his long-held beliefs. His parents had abandoned him, but not before convincing their child that he wasn’t worthy of love. What his parents hadn’t destroyed inside him, foster care had. The celebrations for others, the exclusion from family events, the lack of love and affection, had all bruised Hunter’s heart worse than she’d ever realized.

Her eyes filled with tears, not for herself and all she’d thrown away, but for Hunter and how much he needed the love she could give him. Love he’d never accept or believe she’d give for the long haul. And she had nobody but herself to blame for that.

With regret, Molly lifted Hunter’s arm off her and rolled away from his touch. He groaned, turned to his other side and curled into a ball with his pillow in his arms. Warmth rippled through her. Still watching him, she unhooked the straps on her sandals and slipped off her heels, not wanting to make noise in the hall this late at night.

He muttered something in his sleep. She leaned over and brushed a kiss against his back, still smiling. She was determined to keep smiling, not dwell on the past, but she couldn’t help thinking about how for one brief moment he’d tossed his fears aside and opened his heart to her. And she’d stomped on it.

Somehow, someway, she needed to get around his walls, or else she feared his body was the only thing he’d ever make available to her again. When she wanted so much more.


***

MOLLY NEEDED the carbs in a bagel like she needed a hole in the head, considering she hadn’t had time to work out lately, but Edna had bought fresh ones and she couldn’t resist. A little cream cheese, the commander’s hazelnut coffee and she was ready to start the day.

She sat down at the table in the quiet kitchen, enjoying the peace, knowing from the creaking noises of movement upstairs that it wouldn’t last long. She took a sip of the delicious brew and let the liquid warm her as it went down. Of course, she didn’t need the heat. Hunter had generated enough inside her to last for a long, long while. Just not enough for the rest of her life; she wondered just how to tackle what had to be her one of her biggest personal challenges.

“So what’s going on between you and the hunk?” Jessie’s voice broke the silence.

“Ooh, I’d like to know that, too.” Edna walked into the room in her long bathrobe and Ollie on her shoulder.

“Spill the beans,” the macaw said.

“Yeah, spill,” Jessie said, laughing at the bird.

Molly glanced at her half sister who embodied another of Molly’s personal challenges. It seemed her life was full of them. She reminded herself she wanted to reach out to the teen and not alienate her further.

So instead of snapping back that her private life was none of Jessie’s business, Molly leaned forward in her seat and smiled. “Hunter’s getting along great. Thanks for caring,” Molly deliberately misinterpreted Jessie’s question and motives.

“I don’t-” The teen snapped her mouth shut. “I mean, I never said I-” She shook her head, let out a growl of frustration and eyed Molly’s breakfast instead. “Where are the bagels?”

“Right there, beside the fridge in the sealed bag. Why don’t you take both and join me.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” the commander said, laughing.

But Jessie, who had to catch the school bus, glanced at the clock on the microwave.

“You have time,” Molly assured her. “Besides, I won’t bite, snap or bitch at you. I promise.”

Obviously stunned into silence, Jessie made her breakfast, choosing margarine instead of cream cheese and OJ instead of coffee.

They didn’t have to like the same foods in order to get along, Molly mused. “So how was the party last night?”

Jessie flopped into the seat farthest from Molly, taking a bite of her bagel, chewing and swallowing before finally answering. “Actually, it wasn’t too bad. At least not for me. Seth had a bad time.” She downed a good amount of orange juice. “But the girls are starting to mellow out a little. Sarah even said she was sorry she’d been such a bitch and asked how Dad was doing.”

Molly paused, her mug halfway to her lips. Would wonders never cease? Jessie had answered her civilly and revealed something about her personal life. Molly tread carefully so as not to cause her to clam up again. “That’s good. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you.”

The teen shrugged. “I can handle it.” Her tone was defensive.

“I never said you couldn’t. I just know how mean kids can be. At least you’ve known your friends for a long time. There’s a bond there that you can each fall back on. When I was your age, I rarely stayed in the same place for more than a year or two, three max. So each time my mother did something stupid or embarrassing, the fallout was worse because I was usually already the outsider.”

Molly felt her grandmother’s compassionate gaze on her, while Jessie was uncharacteristically quiet.

Trying not to squirm, Molly wrapped her hands around her warm mug. “I’m sure that was more information than you wanted to know,” she said, forcing a laugh and privately waiting for Jessie’s nasty retort.

“Wow. That must have sucked big-time.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. Commiseration and not sarcasm? “Yeah, it sucked. And I didn’t have a strong family to fall back on like you do. I also didn’t have a best friend like Seth.” The memories of her emotionally deprived teenage years sent a chill racing through her, one not even the warm coffee could cure.

“What about your mother?” Jessie asked through a mouthful of bagel.

Molly wasn’t about to chide her for her manners now. “If I wasn’t at some expensive boarding school while she was off somewhere unable to be reached, then she was living at home doing the things she enjoyed-which was whatever cost the most money. Either way, same difference. She was never there for me in any way that mattered, and she usually screwed up any decent marriage she had by sleeping with someone. There’d be a scandal, the kids at school would get wind of it, and I’d be there dangling in the wind until she remembered she had to come get me because her husband wouldn’t pay the school tuition any longer.”

Jessie’s mouth hung open wide.

At least she’d finished her bagel, Molly thought, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She didn’t want to ruin the moment between them.

Neither, it seemed, did the commander, who chose to remain silent and let the truce play out.

“What about your father? Or whoever you thought was your father? Was he a good guy?” Jessie asked, her curiosity about Molly’s past apparent.

“I always thought he was a cold, uncaring man. I’d get an occasional holiday card from him, but not much more. And since he never paid for my school or much else, I assumed it was because my mother had done something to make him hate us and that was that. It was only last year that I realized he had no obligation to me, legal or otherwise. He knew all along he wasn’t my biological father. And he claims he thought my mother’s marriages to rich men meant I was taken care of all those years.”

Molly’s throat ached as it usually did when discussing her childhood, but for once she really didn’t mind. Though she was surprised that sharing her past with Jessie came so easily, she was also glad. When Jessie wasn’t being a teenage brat, she was merely a wounded young girl. That Molly could relate to. She wanted to help her half sister and get to know her better.

“When things with my friends are bad, I always know I have my family.” Jessie looked at her through her big eyes. “I guess I’m luckier than I realized.”

Molly smiled. “That doesn’t mean you haven’t had your share of rough breaks. Losing your mom was an awful thing that shouldn’t happen to any kid.”

Jessie bobbed her head up and down, agreeing with Molly for once. “But Grandma came to live with us right away and Dad was always around. I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”

The commander silently sipped her coffee, her warm gaze darting between both granddaughters. Molly could only imagine how happy Edna was to have them talking civilly for once.

Molly glanced at Jessie and tipped her head to one side. “Don’t start feeling sorry for me or I’ll have to take your temperature and see what’s wrong with you this morning.” She grinned and silently implored Jessie to laugh, to reach out in a way that would mean she acknowledged they’d just taken a huge step forward in their relationship.

“Get over yourself,” Jessie said. And then she started to laugh hard, at Molly and at herself and her brattiness during the past months.

At least that’s what Molly chose to assume and nobody was going to tell her otherwise. Not when she and Jessie were sharing a laugh together.

“Did I miss something funny?” The general walked into the room, causing the chuckles to come to a halt. “Come on now, what are my girls laughing at?”

Molly prayed her father’s words, lumping Molly and Jessie together as his girls didn’t cause the teenager to remember she hated Molly for intruding on her home.

“You didn’t miss a thing.” Jessie rose from her seat, scooping up her half-eaten bagel and juice glass. “It was just…girl stuff. I have to go or I’ll miss the bus.” She threw out the garbage, and rinsed her glass and put it in the dishwasher. “Bye all.” She ran out of the kitchen without looking back.