Robin in the Hood (Robbin' Hearts Series Book 1) by Diane J. Reed Page A

between us, as if she could somehow see the past or the future in the flames. She watched them dance for a second, then cleared her throat.
    “Well, I reckon a mirror can fetch ya a better answer than I can,” she said softly, confusing me all the more. “And speakin’ a mothers, a few years back, Dooley and Creek’s Ma got herself mixed up with the meanest, son-of-a-bitch boyfriend this side of the Mississippi. You can blame him for puttin’ those burn scars on their arms—and in their hearts. One night he knocked Creek’s Ma around so bad she didn’t live to see the morning. If it weren’t for the way Creek hides Dooley, and the rest of us when we need it, those boys would’ve become wards of the state long ago. And half this trailer park would probably be in the loony bin. See, Creek’s our angel. So long as we keep our traps shut.”
    Granny ran her black-laced finger along the steel of her switchblade and held it up to the candlelight, admiring its shine and brutally sharp edge. She stared me dead in the eyes.
    “We got an understandin’?”
    I nodded, grasping the stakes now. Maybe there were no guns at Turtle Shores, but that didn’t mean Granny Tinker wasn’t extremely well armed.
    “S-So what ever happened to that s-super mean boyfriend?” I managed to spit out.
    Granny inhaled a long, deep breath, releasing it slowly.
    “Let’s just say Creek made sure he won’t never bother us no more.”
    With that, she sliced her switchblade across the candelabra so fast that the upper halves of each candle landed perfectly on her table, their small flames still flickering.
    And I froze.
    Suddenly, I felt cold to the bone, and not just from my wet clothes anymore. I think my mouth fell open, but I’d completely forgotten how to speak.
    Trembling, I couldn’t make up my mind what scared me more: The fact that Creek might have offed that guy, or the fact that if Granny had pushed her knife any closer, I’d be dead.
    You know, a sane girl might’ve taken this moment to turn over Granny’s table and give her an expert karate chop to the head.
    But since I never took karate, and I’d pretty much maxed out
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of my Geisha skills for one day, I simply sat there quaking like an idiot who didn’t even have the good sense to run screaming out into the dark. Instead, I muttered something that I never dreamed would come out of my mouth to a total stranger.
    “I—I really want to go home to my daddy right now. P-P-Please?”
    Without another word, Granny got up and walked over to the trunk in her wagon. I watched her open it, hoping she wasn’t reaching for another knife, crook, or some other secret weapon. Instead, she pulled out an old quilt. Returning to the table, she wrapped it around my shoulders and helped me to stand to my feet.
    “C’mon honey,” she said gently, slipping her arm around my waist to bolster me up. “Let’s get you back to yer trailer. It’ll be right nice to say hello once again to my good ol’ cousin Doyle.”

Chapter 6
     
    My gondola floated serenely through a canal in Venice while I admired the crumbling, Old World buildings and blue sky. I leaned back, listening to a group of musicians along the bank, their violin notes dancing lightly on air. Then my eye caught the sight of a nun strolling by the water, who glanced up with a sad yet wistful look, as if she might know me. Her face was beautiful, and in the sweetest voice I’d ever heard, she called out “Mia bella!”
    I gave the pretty nun a kind wave, then swept my hand over my ivory dress that made me look just like that chick singer in the NeoRomantix’ latest video. Holding up a goblet for a toast, I nodded at the hunky gondolier and took my first ever a sip of champagne—all bubbly with a hint of sweetness!—and offered him a shy smile. This is the
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,
I mused, happier than I could ever remember. His eyes twinkled at me, and just as he leaned down to steal a kiss, a bomb exploded right in front of us and