Free Last Night by Meryl Sawyer Page B

to act as if Big Daddy ' s right and I've decided to stay here. I don ' t want him to suspect that I ' m really leaving. He has enough men here to stop us from taking Jason. On the night of his birthday luau we'll go. It ' ll be hours before anyone misses us. "
    " What about the knife I received in the mail? That might be Big Daddy ' s weird way of warning me about helping you. If he knows what happened, there isn ' t a judge in the country who wouldn't give Eric full custody of Jason. "
    "It doesn ' t sound like something Big Daddy would do. He would have picked up the telephone and threatened you himself. Besides, this is the first time I ' ve ever mentioned divorce. He wouldn ' t have any reason to warn you. "
    " Maybe, " Dana halfheartedly agreed.
    "Whatever you do, don ' t discuss this when anyone can overhear you, " Vanessa warned. " I swear. The walls have ears. Eustace and her helpers must tell Big Daddy everything. "
     
     
    H ours later Dana was just putting on her lipstick, already dreading goi ng to the main house for a ten sion-filled dinner, when she heard a knock on her door. She swung it open and found Big Daddy standing there with two glasses in his hand.
    " Champagne, " he said as he offered her a glass. " I thought we should have a drink before dinner. " Dana reluctantly took the glass as he swept past her through the small cottage to the open doors that led out to the deck. She wanted to throttle him, to scream what a heartless bastard he was, but she and Vanessa had a plan. Besides his two burly sons, Big Daddy had a phalanx of servants and a bunkhouse full of paniolos. No doubt about it; they could physically prevent Vanessa from taking Jason.
    As much as Dana hated indulging this pompous jerk, she had no other choice, so she followed him outside and stood on the deck, sipping expensive champagne and looking at the sunset. The sun ' s crescent was barely visible, firing the rim of the Molokini Crater with golden light. The submerged volcano had blown its top eons ago and was now a popular dive site. Dana had been promising herself for years that she ' d dive there and see what it was like to swim with the sharks. As she waited for Big Daddy to speak, she realized this might be her last trip to Maui.
    Who knew what the future held?
    " I ' ve decided to set Vanessa up in a business of her own. What do you think about a boutique in Makawao? "
    Big Daddy rarely asked anyone ' s opinion on anything. Just asking the question showed he was con cerned that Vanessa might actually divorce his son.
    "Vanessa has never mentioned to me that she was interested in having a boutique."
    "Well, she shops enough. A boutique would be right up her alley. " He drained his glass. "Vanessa ' s t oo focused on Jason. He ' s growing up. She needs to learn to let him go. "
    Dana had to grip her glass firmly to keep from tossing her champagne in his arrogant face.
    "Vanessa listens to you. Since she ' s not going to be able to have any more children, she needs an outside interest. "
    Dana took a quick gulp of champagne. Why couldn ' t Vanessa have any more children? She ' d never mentioned not being able to have another baby. What was going on here? Vanessa wasn't telling her everything.
    " I have no intention of letting Vanessa take Jason away. " There was more than a note of menace in his voice, and Dana held her breath, waiting for him to mention the knife and the note.
    When he didn ' t, Dana asked, "What does Eric say? After all, he ' s Jason ' s father."
    "Nothing. My sons are as worthless as tits on a bull. Do you seriously think they can lead Coltrane Consolidated into the twenty-first century? I need Jason."
    She nodded, surprised that he understood what mental lightweights he ' d fathered. True, both Eric and Travis were outrageously good-looking, with full heads of hair that would turn a lush white like their father ' s and square jaws with cleft chins that belied their weak personalities, but they weren ' t in