The Baby Proposal Read online

  It was actually bigger than her studio apartment had been anyway, and had a view of the ocean. She opened the door with her key card and slipped inside. Lana turned on the light in the tiny kitchenette before continuing through the living room into the bedroom. There, she slipped out of her costume and put her regular clothes back on.

  She didn’t like wandering around the hotel in her dance clothes. It made her feel like a character in a Hawaiian theme park or something. Besides that, she could tell it made Kal uncomfortable when she wasn’t fully dressed. He averted his eyes and shifted nervously, something he never did when she was in street clothes.

  Lana supposed that if Kal walked around in the men’s dance costume all the time, it would make her uncomfortable, too, although for different reasons. The men danced in little more than a skirt of ti leaves. She had a hard enough time focusing on Kal’s words when he was fully dressed in one of his designer suits. They covered every inch of his tanned skin, but they fit him like a glove and left little to the imagination.

  Kalani Bishop was the most amazing specimen of male she’d ever laid her eyes on, and she’d gone to dance school, so that was saying something. And yet that was all she’d say on the subject. Longing for Kal was like longing for a pet tiger. It was beautiful and, if handled properly, could be a loving companion. But it was always wild. No matter what, you could never domesticate it. As much as she liked to live dangerously from time to time, she knew Kal was a beast well out of her league.

  Clad in a pair of jeans and a tank top, she returned to the living room and picked up her phone where she’d left it during the performance. She noticed a message on her screen showing a missed call and a voice mail message from the Maui Police Department. Her stomach sank. Not again.

  With her evermore violent father and her older sister, Mele, always getting into trouble, a call from the police station was not as rare as she’d like it to be.

  Her mother had died when Lana was still a toddler. Their father, at least so she was told, had been a good man before that, but lost it when she died. He struggled after that, both in caring for his two young daughters and in coping with the loss. He turned to the bottle, a habit that released his temper. He’d never hit Lana or Mele, but he would shout the house down. He was also prone to getting in fights at the bar and getting arrested.

  Lana had done everything right in an attempt to keep her father happy. That was how she got into dancing. Despite everything, her father was a proud Hawaiian man who believed they should honor their culture. Lana started taking hula as a child and continued into high school. Her father had never looked at her with as much pride as he did when he watched her dance.

  Mele hadn’t been as concerned. In her mind, she was going to be in trouble no matter what, so she might as well have some fun. That included dating every boy she could find except for the native Hawaiian ones whom their father would’ve approved of. When she finally did start dating a Hawaiian, he was nothing to get excited about. Tua Keawe was a criminal in the making. Mele met him while he was hustling tourists, and he only escalated his illegal activities from there. Lana stopped visiting her sister when she was home from college because Mele was always high or drunk.

  Last year, Mele had found out she was pregnant and she really seemed to clean up her act. Lana’s niece, Akela, was born free of addiction or side effects from fetal alcohol syndrome. She was a perfect, beautiful bundle that Lana adored more than anything. She’d always wanted a daughter of her own. Sometimes she wished the little girl was hers and not Mele’s, if just for Akela’s sake. Mele’s model behavior hadn’t lasted long past her delivery. She slipped back into her old habits, but there wasn’t much Lana could do about it without risking Child Services taking the baby away.

  One thing Lana had never confided in Kal about was her sister and her criminal lifestyle. He knew about her father, and that her sister was prone to get in trouble, but she tried to keep Mele’s arrests under wraps. It was embarrassing, for one thing, to tell him. She knew he would understand and not judge her for their actions, but he was part of such an important and well-respected family. She was...not. Lana tried to pretend that she wasn’t from poor trash most of the time, but her family always saw fit to remind her.

  Lana also avoided the topic because she was always hoping that Mele would grow up and start acting like the older, responsible sister she was supposed to be. So far her hopes for a big sister she could rely on instead of keep an eye on hadn’t materialized. Instead she leaned on Kal to be her responsible older sibling. She could go to him for advice and he would help her in any way he could.

  Glancing at the screen, Lana worried that this time would be the one that her family had gotten into a mess that even Kal couldn’t help her clean up. It was coming sooner or later. She finally worked up the nerve to hit the button on her phone and listen to the message.

  “Lana, this is Mele. Tua and I got arrested. I need you to come get us out of here. This whole thing is just a load of crap. It was entrapment!” she shouted. “Entrapment!” she repeated, most likely to the officer nearby.

  The line went dead and Lana sighed. It sounded like she was going to spend another night waiting to pay her sister’s bail. Before she drove over there in the middle of the night, however, she was going to call the station. It had been a couple hours since her sister’s message and she wanted to make sure she was still there.

  She pressed the key to call back the police station. The switchboard operator answered.

  “Yes, this is Lana Hale. I received a call from my sister, Mele Hale, about bail.”

  There was a moment of silence as the woman looked something up in the computer. “Yes, ma’am, please hold while I transfer you to the officer at the holding desk.”

  “This is Officer Wood,” a man answered after a few moments.

  “This is Lana Hale,” she repeated. “I got a call from my sister about coming to bail her out. I wanted to check before I came down there so late.”

  The officer made a thoughtful noise before he answered. “Yes, your sister and her boyfriend were arrested today for possession of narcotics with intent to distribute. Apparently they attempted to sell heroin to an undercover police officer.”

  Lana bit back a groan. This was worse than she thought. She hadn’t realized her sister had moved up from pot and LSD to a higher class of drug felony. “How much is her bail?” she asked.

  “Actually your sister was misinformed when she called. There’s no bail set for either of them. They’re being held until tomorrow. Miss Hale will be meeting with a court-appointed attorney Monday morning prior to going before the judge.”

  That wasn’t good. It sounded like their constant run-ins with the police were catching up with them. “Which judge?”

  “I believe they’re scheduled to see Judge Kona.”

  This time, the groan escaped Lana’s lips before she could stop it. Judge Kona was known for being a hard nut. He was superconservative, supertraditional and he didn’t tolerate any kind of crap in his courtroom. It wouldn’t be Mele’s first time before Judge Kona, and that wasn’t good news. He didn’t take kindly to repeat offenders.

  A sudden thought popped into Lana’s mind, making her heart stop in her throat. “What about their daughter?” Her niece, Akela, was only six months old. Hopefully they hadn’t left her sleeping in her crib while they ran out to make a few bucks. It certainly wouldn’t surprise Lana if they had.

  “The baby was in the car, asleep in her car seat, when the drug deal went down. She’s been taken by Child Protective Services.”

  Panic made Lana’s chest tight even though she knew her niece was technically safe. “No!” she insisted. “What can I do? I’ll take her. She doesn’t need to go to be with strangers.”

  “I understand how you feel,” Officer Wood said, “but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait and petition the judge for temporary guardianship while the legal guardians are incarcerated. In the meantime, the child will be placed in foster ca
re. I assure you the baby will be well looked after. Perhaps more so than she was with her own parents.”

  Lana’s knees gave out from under her and she sank down onto the couch. The rest of the call went quickly and before she knew it, the officer had hung up and she was staring blankly at her black phone screen.

  She turned it back on to look at the time. It was late on a Sunday night. She’d have to wait to contact an attorney. Akela would be in foster care overnight no matter what, but if Lana had anything to say about it, she’d be with her by Monday afternoon.

  It was a scary thought to leap unexpectedly into motherhood—she was completely unprepared—and yet she would do it gladly. Mele could be going to jail for months or years. Lana wouldn’t be watching Akela overnight or for a weekend this time. She would be her guardian for however long it took for Mele to serve her debt to society.

  She would need help to pull this off. Lana didn’t want to do it, but she knew she had to tell Kal about what happened. Maybe he knew an attorney who would be better for Mele than the public defender or at the very least help her get guardianship of Akela.

  Getting up from the couch, she slipped her phone into her back pocket and headed out to the bar to meet Kal. If anyone could help her out of this mess, it was him.

  Two

  Kal sat back in the chair at his lawyer’s office the next day trying to keep quiet. They weren’t here about him. They were here for Lana and Akela. Still, it was difficult to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing.

  Lana had met him at the bar late last night, her eyes wild with panic. He’d never seen her like that. He’d forced a shot down her throat, sat her in a chair and made her tell him everything. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized exactly how much Lana had kept from him about her family. He knew her father was a mess, but it seemed her sister was even worse. The thought of Lana’s little niece being with strangers had made his blood boil. He’d only met her once, when Lana had her for an afternoon, but she was adorable, with chubby cheeks, long eyelashes and a toothless grin. Lana had been a fool for that baby, and now the baby was in trouble.

  He’d called his attorney right then. When you had a six-figure retainer with Dexter Lyon, you got his personal number and permission to call him whenever you needed him. While Kal had never personally had a reason to summon his attorney from bed in the middle of the night, Lana did, and that was what mattered. He agreed to see them first thing Monday morning.

  “It doesn’t look good to be honest,” Dexter said.

  “What do you mean?” Lana said. Her face was flushed red and had been since the night before. She seemed to be on the verge of tears every second.

  “I mean Judge Kona is a hard-ass. Yes, it absolutely makes sense for you to get custody of your niece. But let me tell you why he’d turn your petition down.” Dexter looked at his notepad. “You’re a dancer. You live out of a hotel room. You keep crazy hours. You’re single. While none of those make you legally unfit to have children, adding them all together makes you a hard sell to the judge.”

  Lana frowned. “Well, for one thing, I’m a choreographer. I do stay in the hotel for convenience, but I can get an apartment if that’s what it takes. I am single, but I can afford day care while I’m at work.”

  “And at night?” Dexter’s brow went up curiously. “I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. Judge Kona will ask these questions, so it’s best you be prepared for them.”

  “I just don’t understand how Lana can be considered unfit when the baby’s actual parents are drug dealers. Even if she was an exotic dancer that lived in a van down by the river, she’d be more fit than Mele and Tua.” Kal was getting mad. He wasn’t used to being told no, especially when he called Dexter. Dexter was supposed to fix things. His reluctance to handle this made Kal more irritated by the second.

  The attorney held up his hands in surrender. “I get it. I do. And I’ve gone ahead and filed for temporary guardianship. We’re on the judge’s docket for Wednesday.”

  “Wednesday!” Lana looked heartbroken. Kal imagined that if his niece was with strangers, he wouldn’t want an hour to go by, much less a few days.

  “There is no such thing as ‘hurry’ in the court system. We’re lucky we got in Wednesday. Look at this time as the opportunity it is.”

  “Opportunity?” Lana repeated, skeptically.

  “Yes. You’ve got two days to make yourself more fit. Find a place to live. Arrange for a nanny. Buy a crib. If you’ve got a serious boyfriend, marry him. All of that will help the cause.”

  Marry him? “Now, wait just a second,” Kal said. He couldn’t be quiet about this any longer. “You’re recommending she just run out and marry someone so she can get custody?”

  “Not just anyone. But if she’s with someone serious, it’s a great time to make the leap.”

  Lana sat back in her chair and dropped her head into her hands. “Just the way I’d always pictured it.”

  Kal didn’t like seeing her like this. She looked totally defeated. He wasn’t about to let her feel that way. “That’s a nice idea, Dexter, but not everyone is in a relationship that can go to the next level on a day’s notice.”

  Dexter shrugged. “Well, I figured it was a long shot, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. Focus your energies on an apartment and a caregiver, then. A nice place too. A studio isn’t any better than a suite at a hotel.” He stood and walked around his desk to lean against it. “I know that it seems like a lot of changes just for a temporary guardianship, but your sister and her boyfriend are in a lot of trouble. It might not be as temporary as you expect it to be.

  “Life will get really complicated in a cramped apartment with a small baby after the first few weeks. My house is three thousand square feet, and when we brought our son home from the hospital, it felt like a tiny cardboard box. Baby crap everywhere. Everything is complicated by a factor of ten at least. It takes twenty minutes just to load up the car to run to the grocery store.”

  Lana groaned aloud. “Are you trying to talk me out of doing this?”

  Dexter’s eyes widened. “No, of course not. Kids are great. We have four now. My point is that I need you to do whatever you can to make it an easier transition. I have every intention of winning the motion Wednesday. I just need your help to make it impossible for the judge to say no. Every little thing you do can help.”

  A soft knock came at the door.

  “Yes?” Dexter asked loudly.

  His assistant poked her head inside. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lyon, but Mr. Patterson is on line two and he’s very upset. He refuses to speak to anyone but you.”

  Dexter looked at Lana, then at Kal. “Do you mind if I take this call in the other room? It should only take a minute.”

  Kal nodded and Dexter slipped out the door with his assistant. He couldn’t shake the irritation that furrowed his brow. He didn’t like any of this and he certainly didn’t like this judge. Who was he to impose his value system on others? Lana shouldn’t have to rearrange her whole life for this. There was nothing wrong with the way she lived. She wasn’t a drug dealer or a heroin addict, so she was a step above her sister as a fit guardian, easily.

  He wanted to say something, but Lana’s pensive expression gave him pause. He didn’t want to interrupt her. She got the same look on her face when she was working out a dance routine. The whole thing would play out in her mind like a film as she thought it through. If you spoke to her, she’d have to start over from the beginning.

  Finally her brown eyes came into focus and she turned to look at him. Her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail today that swung over her shoulder as she moved. While her long, thick hair was beautiful and he often fantasized about running his fingers through it, he knew it annoyed the hell out of her. She kept it long for the show, but if she wasn’t performing, it was usually pulled back from her face. Thankfully that relieved the temptation. Most of the time.

  “So I’ve got an idea,” she said. “It’s a little out there, so do me a fa
vor and just go with it for a second.”

  He didn’t know that he liked the sound of that. It usually meant trouble where she was concerned. “Okay.”

  She held out her hands to count her points on her fingers. “So, obviously my job isn’t going to change and there’s no reason that it should.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I can find a day care for the days I work with the dancers and a babysitter for the nights of the luau.”

  “That’s true. I can also give you some time off, you know. I think you have about two hundred hours’ worth of vacation you’ve never used.”

  Lana frowned at him. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, and he didn’t like it. He wanted to reach out and rub away the crease between her eyebrows and kiss the pout of her lips until she smiled again. Or hit him. As long as she stopped looking so upset. Instead he kept his hands and mouth to himself.

  “While that’s a nice idea, it’s Christmas. We’re super busy. There’s no way I’m taking off the whole month. Besides, if what your lawyer says is true and I have Akela longer than a month or two, I’m going to need my leave for when she’s sick or has doctor’s appointments. No one I know with kids under the age of three has any personal leave accrued, especially if the child goes to day care. They catch all the bugs there.”

  Kal hadn’t really thought about that. If this did turn into a long-term arrangement, Akela would take up a huge portion of her time. He felt a pang of jealousy at the idea that he might be losing his best friend for a while. He totally understood, but he wondered what he would do while she was consumed by caring for her niece. “Okay. I just wanted to let it be known that your boss says it’s all right if you have to do it.”

  Lana nodded. “Thanks. He’s usually a jerk, so I’m glad he can be reasonable about this.” She grinned for the first time since she’d gotten the call from her sister, and he felt a sense of relief wash over him at last. That smile gave him a little hope, even if it was at his expense.