Lucas stepped away from the truck, and Alana fired up the engine. “I never knew you smoked, Daddy.”
“I told you that Paxton Callahan, even with his bad habits and cattin’ around, couldn’t outdo me in my younger days,” he chuckled. “I’m glad that this trip came up on the fly. It’s like the good old days when your mama would let me take you with me on a buying trip.”
“I learned a lot on those trips.” She expertly backed the truck and trailer around and then drove down the lane to the road.
“Did you call Pax and tell him you wouldn’t be home tonight?” Matt asked. “It is Friday night and that’s date night, isn’t it? It’s still not too late to ask him to go with us. I sure don’t mind sitting in the backseat.”
“No, Daddy, this is time for us to spend with each other.” She couldn’t very well tell him that she’d rather not see Pax until after Monday.
* * *
Dark clouds drifted back and forth over the sun that Friday morning. Stretching barbed wire and replacing fence posts was hot work, so Pax appreciated every minute of shade that the clouds offered him. He wouldn’t have minded working through a little half-hour shower to cool things down, but so far there hadn’t been a single drop of rain.
He had to keep cheering his two little work crews on if he wanted to get the job finished by noon. The first bunch got to the finish line, which was the corner of the pasture, a full five minutes before the second team made it. That meant each of them would get an extra ten dollars on their paycheck that evening.
“Okay, boys, time to drag out your lunches, find a shady spot, and take a nap for an hour. I’m goin’ up to the house and refill our tea and water coolers.” He removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a blue bandanna. “This afternoon the bunch of you are going to work on the last section of the fence we want to replace this summer.”
“You goin’ to the Wild Cowboy tonight?” Jake, one of the older boys, asked.
“Might if Alana wants to get out and do some dancin’.” Pax settled his hat back on his head and picked up the two empty orange coolers.
“Reckon you could let me tag along behind you?” Jake asked.
“How old are you?” Pax set the two containers in the backseat of the old farm truck.
“Seventeen, but I’ll be eighteen in December,” he said.
“Then I’ll let you tag along in December,” Pax answered.
“I told you he was a square shooter,” one of the other boys said.
“Never hurts to ask,” Jake sighed loudly. “Guess we’ll all go to the pond after work and see who wants to go skinny-dippin’ with us.”
Pax didn’t have a bit of trouble remembering back when he was seventeen and wanting to go to the Wild Cowboy on Friday nights. He’d gotten Maverick to help him with a fake ID so he could go with his older brother and the Baker boys. He shuddered at the idea of his own son doing the same thing.
“It’s a wonder Mam didn’t lock us up on weekends,” he mumbled as he got into the truck. He started the engine, and his phone rang at the same time. He turned the air-conditioning up as high as it would go and picked up the phone from the passenger seat.
“Hello, darlin’,” he said, “is this my girlfriend or my fiancée? I was thinkin’ we might go to the Wild Cowboy tonight if it’s my girlfriend.”
“Sorry, honey,” she said. “Daddy and I are on the way to Odessa to look at a bull. We won’t be back until late tomorrow evening.”
“You go spend as much time with him as you can,” Pax said. “The Wild Cowboy ain’t goin’ nowhere, so we’ll have lots of Friday nights to go there. Can I pick you up for church on Sunday morning?”
“Of course,” she said. “I’ll be ready at ten thirty. Daddy wanted me to invite y’all to Mama Jo’s for dinner afterward. He’s got a hankerin’ for some of her chicken and dressin’.”
“I’m accepting for all of us,” Pax said. “Have a safe trip and call or text me when you can.”
“Sure thing. Love you,” she said.
“Me too,” he answered, knowing that the words were for Matt’s benefit.
Maverick’s truck was parked in the backyard when Pax got to the house, but he was still sitting in it. He slung open the door, and the two of them got out at the same.
“It’s going to rain. I can smell it,” Maverick said as the first big drops hit the ground.
They jogged the rest of the way to the house with Pax taking the lead. “What’s the weatherman saying?”
“One hundred percent chance all night,” Maverick told him. “I sent my boys on home. You might as well give Jake a call and tell him to haul your crew back to town. Didn’t they ride out with him?”
Pax darted into the house, made the call, and groaned. “I really wanted to get the last of the fencing done today. Once that’s set, we’ll have all the old wooden posts replaced with metal T-posts, and we won’t have to mess with it for a couple of years.”
“I guess this gives you all afternoon to get presentable and go out with Alana tonight.” Maverick hung his hat on the hook by the back door. “Hey, where’s my pretty girls. Y’all ready for Daddy to be in the house the rest of the day?”
Iris looked up from the stove, where she was stirring a pot of fresh green beans cooked with new potatoes. “Y’all are right on time,” she said. “The chicken is all fried and ready to go on the table.”
Bridget crossed the room and tiptoed to give Maverick a kiss. “We’ll have dinner on the table by the time y’all get washed up.”
Laela toddled over to Maverick and held up her arms for him to pick her up. The idea of starting a family a few weeks ago would have had Pax running like a jackrabbit toward the nearest mesquite thicket but seeing the happiness in his brother’s eyes made him wish that he was already settled down and maybe even a father.
“Do I see a little jealousy?” Iris poked him on the arm with a wooden spoon.
“Yes, you do,” Pax admitted.
“Well, maybe this time next year, I’ll have another great-grandchild, and Laela will have a little cousin,” Iris said.
“A very wise lady told me once not to count my chickens before they’re hatched.” Pax adjusted the water at the kitchen sink and lathered up his hands.
Bridget finished setting the table, took the baby from Maverick, and kissed him on the cheek. “Since it’s raining, do you think we might go shopping this afternoon, darlin’? It’s only two weeks until the wedding, and I still haven’t bought a pair of boots.”
“I’ll keep Laela for you,” Iris said. “Y’all make a day of it. Go shopping, have dinner somewhere nice, and then either go dancin’ at the Wild Cowboy or maybe take in a movie.”
“I’ll help Mam babysit,” Pax volunteered. “Alana has gone off on a road trip to Odessa with Matt, so I’m free until Sunday morning.”
“It’ll be good for Alana and Matt to have some time together before the wedding.” Iris sat down at the table. “Things are about to change drastically over there at the Bar C. It’s only been the two of them since Alana was ten years old, and now there’ll be a third in the mix.”
But you’re so right, Pax thought. A drastic change is definitely coming, and none of y’all have any idea how huge the change could very well be.
Chapter Seventeen
Soft rain was falling outside when Alana awoke on Sunday morning. The drops sliding down the window reminded her of all the tears she’d shed in the past few weeks. Determined that she wouldn’t cry anymore and that she’d be thankful for what time she had left with her father, she pushed back the covers and grabbed her robe from the back of a rocking chair. She was already in the bathroom when she realized that she wasn’t the least bit sick that morning.
She brushed her teeth and laid a hand on her flat stomach and then glanced through the open door at her wedding dress, hanging on the back of the closet door. The preacher hadn’t known how right he’d been when he had talked about tangled webs. If she hadn’t asked Pax t
o pretend that they were getting married, none of this would be happening. What she’d created by telling her dad that she and Pax were involved would take years and years to unknot but seeing him so happy made it all worthwhile.
The smell of bacon and coffee hit her when she reached the bottom of the stairs, and she could hear her father humming before she reached the kitchen. She headed straight for the coffeepot and poured herself a mugful.
“You’re in a good mood this morning,” she said.
“Why wouldn’t I be? We had a fantastic road trip, bought two good bulls that are going to bring new blood to our line, and today I get to have Sunday dinner with good friends. Life is good,” he replied.
“What can I do to help with breakfast?” she asked.
“Not a thing,” Matt answered. “Sit down and enjoy your coffee. Bacon is done and the waffle iron is hot. Breakfast will be on the table in five minutes. Do you realize that two weeks from right now, you’ll be waking up with your brand-new husband in the honeymoon suite of a hotel in Amarillo? I arranged a little surprise for you.”
“Another one?” she asked.
“Yep, but you know how hard it is for me to keep a secret so…” He shrugged as he poured batter into the waffle iron. “I’ve chartered a private plane to take y’all to Colorado so you won’t have to spend the first day of your marriage driving.”
Alana opened her mouth to argue, to remind him that she might need to get home in a hurry if he started feeling bad, but then she clamped it shut. If he could charter a plane to take them to Colorado, then if it became necessary, she could do the same to get back home. “That’s so sweet of you, Daddy. You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“If I haven’t,” he said with a grin, “I promise I’ll do my best to do so before the weddin’. Let’s keep this our little secret so we can at least surprise Pax with it.”
“I hope he’s not afraid of flying,” she laughed.
* * *
Alana remembered her comment about Paxton’s possible fear of flying when the choir director at church that morning asked everyone to turn their hymnals to “I’ll Fly Away.” She’d only flown a few times in her life, and she loved being as high as the clouds and higher. But usually she and her dad drove to rodeos or cattle sales, and more than likely, they would have a trailer hitched up to their truck with either a horse in it or plans to bring some sort of animal back with them.
“Have you ever flown anywhere?” she whispered in Pax’s ear.
He shook his head. “Nope, always had too much gear.”
“Shhh…” Iris poked him on the shoulder from the pew right behind them.
He gave Alana a slow, sexy wink and gently squeezed her hand. She nudged him with her shoulder and started singing again. When the song ended, the preacher stepped up behind the old oak lectern, cleared his throat, and started his sermon by reading the passage from Acts, the one about Ananias and Sapphira, a couple who were struck dead for lying.
“Did he not already speak on this a week or two ago?” she muttered under her breath.
Pax nodded and then shook his head.
That gesture meant that he agreed, but that he didn’t feel like they were lying, or maybe he thought the preacher was talking to someone else in the congregation and not them. Alana wasn’t so sure about that. She felt like the man was staring right at her. She made up her mind right then and there that she would tell her dad the truth after tomorrow. If she was pregnant, that might ease the blow of her having lied to him. If she had cancer, then they’d have more to worry about than canceling a wedding.
That decision made and knowing that she only had to live with the uncertainty and the guilt for another twenty-four hours brought peace to her heart. She was able to ignore the rest of the sermon and focus on Pax. The scent of his woodsy shaving lotion wafted over to her every time he moved and sent her thoughts back toward the tack room when she had awakened to find her naked body snuggled up to him on the futon.
The preacher jerked her back from the past when he asked her father to deliver the benediction. She’d been so lost in reliving those sexy moments with Pax that she had not heard the end of the sermon or any announcements.
“Amen,” her father said, and everyone in the church said it right after him.
Then folks began to stand up, and the quietness was replaced with the hum of dozens of conversations all going on at the same time. Alana followed Pax to the end of the pew, and when she stepped out into the center aisle, she came face-to-face with Danielle Barlow. Richie was crowded in right behind her, and their son, Keeton, was holding on to his mother’s arm, his hurt finger pointing straight up.
“How’s he doin’?” Alana asked.
“Whinin’, but then it was a deep cut,” Danielle said. “I still don’t know how he got into his father’s gun safe and got his hands on that pocketknife.”
“He probably watched me punch in the combination,” Richie said. “I already changed it, and I’ll be more careful where he is when I open that safe from now on.”
Alana imagined a child of hers and Pax’s being as precocious. Neither of them had ever been afraid of anything—well, almost anything. They had both run from each other for a long time.
“So how’s your arm?” Danielle asked.
Alana was sweating bullets, hoping the woman wouldn’t mention seeing her at the doctor’s office. “It’s healin’ up good. Nothing but a big ugly bruise. It’ll probably be gone by the day of the wedding.”
“Well, honey, if it’s not, you call me. I’ve got some fantastic makeup that will cover it right up,” Danielle said with a wink. “Richie’s mama is expectin’ us for dinner”—she lowered her voice—“so we’re going to sneak out the side door. I’m sure she’s going to blame me for her grandson gettin’ hurt.”
“Of course she will,” Richie teased. “I’m the precious baby of the family that never does anything wrong.”
Alana glanced over at Pax with a knowing look. He was the baby son, and Iris probably thought he didn’t do anything wrong either, but Alana could educate her pretty quick on that issue.
The Barlow family headed toward the side door, but what Richie had said stayed with Alana. Even if she and Pax were to really get married, she wouldn’t have a mother-in-law to have to deal with, and he’d have no in-laws at all. Tears welled up in her eyes again—Lord have mercy! She’d cried more over that weekend than she had her whole life, and a lot of those tears had been brought on by the thought that her baby would not have grandparents, aunts and uncles, or even cousins. She thought about Pax’s family and all his extended friends out in Sunset who were like kinfolk. On that side, her child would have lots of relatives, so maybe she shouldn’t throw away the idea of staying married to him. It would sure simplify things all around for her, but he might resent her for trapping him that way.
Besides, she was going to put a stop to the whole engagement charade tomorrow, anyway. She had already made that decision, and Alana Joy Carey never sat on a fence. Once she made a decision, she stuck with it.
Why, Lord, she looked up toward the high ceiling in the church, does everything have to be so complicated and confusing?
Your life has been simple and honest for twenty-nine years, girl. It wasn’t until you told that first little lie that things got complicated and confusing. Don’t blame God, or even ask Him a question like that. You know the answer all too well, the voice in her head scolded.
“Are you okay?” Pax asked. “You seem to be fighting with yourself today.”
“I am,” she admitted. “I can’t do all this pretending and lying anymore. I’m going to come clean with Daddy tomorrow.”
“No, you are not!” Pax said. “We’ve come this far, and it would break his heart to know that we’ve deceived him. It’s only two more weeks, and we’ll get through it together.”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can not do,” she snapped.
“We’ll talk after dinner,” he said out of the side
of his mouth. “We can’t argue in church with so many people around us.”
“Who’s arguing?” Iris asked.
“We’re trying to decide if we want the Sunday special or hamburgers,” Alana lied and then worried that she was getting entirely too smooth at not telling the truth.
“You can get a burger any day of the week, but you can only get chicken and dressin’ on Sunday,” Matt said. “But it’s up to you kids. Whatever you want, you can have it.”
“Thanks, Daddy.” Alana smiled.
* * *
Pax had put a lot of time and energy into their ruse, plus he’d discovered that he really liked Alana—a lot—so he intended to do his dead level best to talk her out of coming clean. If the time ever came when they wanted to break up, they could get a divorce then. Folks would stand in line to say “I told you he’d never settle down,” or they might even say that Alana had only married him because her father was sick, and she didn’t want to be alone. Pax didn’t give a damn what rumors got spread about him on down the road. He wanted Matt to die a happy man, and if it took arguing with Alana until the cows came home to make that happen, he was up for the task.
“So what were you two kids really arguing about back there?” Matt asked when they were in Pax’s truck and headed toward the café. “Don’t try to lie to me about it, either. You know, you’ve never been able to pull the wool over my eyes, Alana Joy.”
She glanced over at Pax, and the fire in her eyes said that she wasn’t giving in to him or anyone else.
“Whether to have children when we first get married or wait a couple of years,” Pax answered.
Her brown eyes looked like they might shoot flames at him at any time.
“If you want my advice, don’t wait too long.” Matt buckled his seat belt. “You want to have the energy to raise your kids, and the older you get, the less energy you have. Plus, if you wait two or three years, you’ll be set in your ways and a baby kind of upsets things.”
“That’s exactly what I told Alana. If we want three or four kids, then we should have the first one pretty quick, and maybe one every eighteen months to two years after that. If we did that, we’d still be past fifty when the youngest one graduates high school.” Pax thought of that old saying about getting hung for a sheep as well as a lamb came to mind. Since he was spinning a yarn anyway, he thought, he might as well make it a big one.
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