"When is Daddy coming home?" Destiny persisted.
"Daddy," Natalie echoed, and started to cry.
The shoulder protested when she put an arm around Destiny, but right now Destiny was more important.
"I don't know sweetie. He said a couple of weeks."
Felipa returned a few minutes later and Carmen told her about the call.
"Did you tell him about Rob?" Felipa asked.
Carmen shook her head. "No - well, kind of. I did mention that Rob had attacked me, but I didn't say what he did. I didn't have time." She sighed. "Yes I did, but I didn't take time." She pointed to the destroyed telephone. "I'm afraid I lost my temper with him."
Felipa looked back and forth at the telephone and Carmen, obviously at a loss for words.
"That's how I hung up on him," Carmen explained.
Felipa's brows shot up. "He will be home soon."
"Not likely," Carmen said. "That's a long way to drive just to tell me off. Besides, we have a land line if he really wants to talk to me - and he obviously doesn't."
They dropped the subject and Carmen suggested Felipa take the children out for ice cream. They were all for that and within minutes Carmen was alone with her thoughts. She left the phone on the floor as a reminder to control her temper. The children needed structure and direction in their lives. That display gave them neither.
As she put the clean dishes from the dishwasher into the cabinet, she considered the situation. Alex might come back after the way she chastised him, and then again, he might not. It hurt to think he no longer cared about what happened to her.
She put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher and ran water in the sink to wash the iron skillet and wooden handled spatula. She was rinsing the pan when a vehicle entered the garage. Her stomach lurched. Alex? Who else could it be? If it was, he hadn't been in Texas when she called him.
She was wiping the skillet with a paper towel when he entered the living room. His attention was instantly drawn to the shattered cellular phone. He picked the pieces up and laid them on the counter in front of her.
She met his accusing gaze with a cold stare and continued wiping the skillet.
"I've been trying to call you," He said. "I can see why you didn't answer."
It didn't require a response so she gave her attention to the skillet and said nothing.