by Tina Leonard
He relaxed and made himself stare out the window so he wouldn’t keep annoying a woman whose naked body, he remembered, was quite beautiful.
PEPPER TRIED TO DECIDE what had made her turn back around and pick up Luke. What drove her to dance on the fiery edge of an emotional volcano? He was every bit the dark-haired scoundrel with easy charm he’d always been; if anything, time had put a glossy veneer of sophistication on him that made him more dangerously sexy than ever. The cocktail was devastating to her heart, Pepper noted, analyzing her overrapid pulse and trembling, adrenaline-laced fingertips.
One day, I’m going to have to tell him….
She couldn’t imagine pushing a confession to this suave, confident man past her lips. Luke and she were strangers to each other, even more awkward than total strangers because neither of them wanted to accidentally refer to their past affair. She doubted he’d forgotten her naive crush on him and her willing surrender. Likely, he was being the gentleman by pretending to forget that it had ever happened.
It never happened, Pepper told herself. Toby and Josh were wonderful gifts from heaven.
But no. Her boys were wonderful gifts from the man seated next to her. She clenched her fingers on the steering wheel. “Here you are,” she said, “home again at long last.” She stopped the car outside the front door of the McGarrett farmhouse. Luke had become more and more quiet with every passing mile, and she could feel his dread of the meeting between him and his father. Mr. McGarrett had never been easy on him, therefore laying the groundwork for conflict, to Pepper’s mind, of a son who rebelled in all the requisite bad-boy methods.
“Thanks,” Luke said, opening the van door reluctantly.
She softened for a second, knowing he wasn’t looking forward to the meeting. Her fondest wish would be for her sons to never dread talking to their father…when they got to know him.
Prickles ran over her scalp. Duke and Zach had never had any reason to expect anything other than respect and love from their dad, as had she. “Good luck,” she murmured.
Luke looked at her. “Yeah. Thanks.”
She nodded, their gazes meeting. He hesitated, perhaps recognizing sympathy in her expression, so she broke eye contact and looked at her hands.
“I hope I see you again,” Luke said softly. “I have a feeling you turned out to be a very remarkable woman.”
She didn’t look up. She couldn’t. So he closed the door and walked away. She heard his footsteps crunching up the gravel drive, and sneaked a peek. Toby and Josh walked like their father, she realized, with that same loose, arm-swinging gait of busy alertness. While the walk was cute on her boys, it was darn sexy on a grown man, giving Pepper a flash that one day, her boys were going to turn out much like their father in the girl-magnet department.
They were thirteen, not so much younger than when she and Luke—
Not letting herself think about it, Pepper backed up the van and drove off.
LUKE WALKED INSIDE his boyhood home with reluctance. The front door was open, so he didn’t need the key his father kept under the cracked flowerpot. Luke had checked to make sure it was still there, knowing that nothing would have changed despite time’s certain march.
The house smelled musty, closed up, like library stacks in an unventilated basement. It was a world away from the open ocean and thrilling waters of Greece. Setting down his small bag, he headed to the den, where he knew his father would be on a Sunday evening.
His dad was parked in front of a blaring TV with a cereal bowl perched on a TV dinner tray. Luke swallowed hard, looking at the round top of a nearly bald head, all that was visible from behind the green recliner. “Dad.”
His father got to his feet, finally realizing someone was in the house with him. “Luke. You’re back.”
They stared at each other for a tense ten seconds before the older man finally stretched out his hand. “Good to see you.”
Luke nodded. “You, too.” He shook the offered hand with trepidation.
“Nice of you to come home to see your old man,” his father began, and Luke stiffened.
“You sent for me,” he said. “I assumed it was important.”
“My letter?” His father shook his head. “I didn’t send for you. I merely suggested you might want to take over the family business.”
“It’s your business, Dad,” Luke said, not wanting to jump immediately into a conflict. “Thanks, though. Residential real estate isn’t my cup of tea.”
By the looks of his father’s home, it wasn’t his cup of tea, either. There was a lot of work needing to be done, both inside and out.
Stepping back, his father accidentally bumped the TV table. When he reached to steady it, the cereal bowl went crashing to the floor, and Luke realized that he hadn’t been called home for business matters at all.
His father appeared quite feeble. A flash of despair and recognition washed over Luke as the truth hit him. His dad couldn’t take care of himself as well as he used to, and most certainly could no longer care for a large acreage. My footloose traveling days are over. Luke saw himself locked into the finality of caretaking for a man who’d never loved him or been proud of him.
He swore to himself on the spot that if he ever had children, they were going to know he loved them every day of their lives. Every single damn day.
Chapter Five
“There’s probably a proverb in the Bible somewhere about people who meddle,” Helen said worriedly as the four of them sat around a table at the Tulips Saloon. “We may all go to Hades for our part in this.”
They hadn’t seen or heard anything of Luke since his return. That was not a good sign, Helen thought, but worse was that they hadn’t seen Pepper or the boys. Neither had Duke or Zach graced the saloon with their presence.
“It does seem that we would have heard something from someone,” Pansy said, and Hiram and Bug nodded. “Remember when we promised ourselves a long time ago, before Zach and Jessie got married, that sometimes we overhelped and made things worse? So we quit the busybody business?”
“Yes,” Hiram said, “but then we sort of got roped back into it by Zach. He seemed needier than his brother somehow.”
“Fibbers,” Helen said impatiently. “We couldn’t bear to be left out. And now we may have meddled one time, too many. Someone get the Bible and see if we’re going to hell for it.”
Pansy giggled. “Too late now. I say we get out a cookbook, instead.”
Hiram and Bug sat up with enthusiasm. “You girls bake and us boys’ll play cards and lick the bowls.”
“How can I pass up that deal?” Helen said. “It’s better than waiting to hear something when we probably won’t.” She pulled out her special recipe box. “I’ve got a humdinger to try on you two unworthy guinea pigs. Red velvet cake like you’ve never tasted.”
“Mmm,” Hiram said. “You just go ahead and bake off those nerves you’re having. Bug and me’ll be happy to try your experiments.”
Pansy sniffed. “Useless.”
The door swung open with more force than usual, and Toby and Josh dashed in, followed by a more sedate Pepper.
“Now, boys,” Helen began, in her most grandmotherly voice, “we try to handle that door with care. It was handmade for us specially. We don’t throw it open like regular saloon doors.” She hugged the boys to her.
“Yes, Ms. Helen,” they said, awkwardly trying to squirm out of her embrace.
Pepper gave everyone in the room a kiss. “Good news,” she said. “I hired four girls for my office.”
“Local?” Pansy asked.
Pepper sat down. “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of hiring anybody from outside of Tulips.”
“Oh.” Helen nodded. “We thought maybe you’d want professionals.”
“Well, they’ll be professional with some training.” Pepper motioned for her boys to sit beside her. “A secretary-receptionist, a nurse’s aide, an insurance clerk and an office manager.”
“Wow,” Pansy said, “you had
this all thought out, Pepper.”
She nodded. “For a long time.” She gazed at her boys fondly. “I always knew we were coming home, one day.”
For a moment, the room went silent. “Snag a cookie from the kitchen, boys,” Pepper told her sons, laying a couple of dollars on the table.
Helen shook her head. “Put those away, Doctor,” she said. “The boys aren’t going to eat much. There’s a table back there, kids, where you can eat and have some milk, too.”
Pepper laughed. “Growing twins eat plenty. You’ll be sorry you introduced them to your refrigerator.”
The door swung open again, this time bringing Luke. Pepper’s insides went tight, and she hoped Toby and Josh would stay in the kitchen, out of sight. She wasn’t ready for her secret to be out, not just yet, not while she was still getting her footing in Tulips. No one had asked her who the boys’ father was, and she appreciated people respecting her privacy.
Luke looked over the group and then at her, his face tired. “I came by for a refresher sugar binge.”
“I’ll get you some snacks,” Helen said, hopping to her feet. “You stay right there and put your boots up. I see you’re wearing boots now instead of flipflops.”
Pepper hid a smile at the teasing on Helen’s part, and relief that the woman wasn’t going to send Luke to the kitchen, too, as she had her sons. As nice as Luke had looked yesterday in his casual beach pants and shirt, he appeared rough-and-ready in blue jeans, boots and a dark denim shirt. But looks are not enough. Being a father is about more than looking rugged and manly.
“How’s the clinic, Pepper?” Luke asked.
“Fine. I’ve hired some staff.” She declined to say more. In fact, it was terribly difficult to even glance at him, though she tried to in order to not seem rude. Her stomach rumbled with nerves. Toby and Josh could roll out of that kitchen any second with their customary burst of energetic enthusiasm, and she was afraid of what might happen.
Decisions needed to be made. A plan of action was desperately required, with as much structure and order as she’d put into arranging her return to Tulips. Drat Luke for snarling the smooth ribbon of her life.
He caught her gaze and she glanced nervously away. “Still don’t like me?” he asked softly.
She stared at him straight on. “It’s not something I think about. I don’t have plans to like or dislike you.”
Nodding, he got to his feet, taking the napkinful of cookies Helen gave him when she returned. He left a five dollar bill on the table, waved goodbye to Hiram, Bug and Pansy, and departed.
“Gosh,” Pansy said, “he certainly can’t take teasing these days.”
“Was someone teasing him?” Helen asked.
“You were,” she retorted, “and Pepper, too.”
“He always was a wee bit sensitive,” Helen said, and Pepper tried to remember if that was true.
She jumped when the saloon door opened and Luke said, “Pepper? Can I talk to you a minute?” He closed the door.
Reluctantly, she rose. “If the boys look for me…tell them I’ll be right back,” she hedged, and Pansy and Helen nodded.
She walked outside.
“I swung by the clinic.”
Surprised, she said, “I’m not quite open for business yet.”
His gaze touched her hair, making her feel self-conscious. But everything about him made her feel a little jittery, his mere presence seeming to electrify nerves in her body she’d forgotten about.
“I hope you won’t mind an official visit. A curb-side consult, Doctor.”
She shook her head. “Certainly not.” It would not be good if something was wrong with Luke. There were young boys to consider, who hadn’t yet met their father….
“My dad,” Luke began, and Pepper breathed again, realizing how silly she’d been. “He hasn’t been taking care of himself.”
“I see.” She nodded. “And you’d like me to stop by and see him.”
“It’s a lot to ask,” Luke said, but she cut him off by putting a hand on his wrist. Somewhere inside her a spark flew, so she jerked her hand away and told herself to stick with nods and handshakes.
“I’d be happy to do it,” she said simply, slipping a professional mask in place.
“It’s probably nothing,” Luke murmured.
“Most likely, but then a visit can’t hurt.” Her gaze went to the curb, where a shiny black truck was parked. “Nice vehicle.”
Luke sighed. “It’s Dad’s. Apparently, he bought it last year, but doesn’t use it. He contents himself with bumping around the fields in his tractor.”
Pepper smiled. “Lucky you.”
She wondered why he frowned at her.
“Luck has not a damn thing to do with it,” he said, then tipped his hat to her. “We’re at your convenience.”
Perhaps he was sensitive, as Helen and Pansy claimed, and she’d missed that over the years due to her googly eyed, mushy admiration for him. “After dinner?”
He nodded and got in the truck, driving away.
“All right, Mr. Sensitive,” she murmured, going back inside the saloon. The gang looked at her expectantly, too expectantly, and Pepper had a warning flash of intuition.
“Oh, no,” she muttered. Pieces fell into place with sudden clarity. Her breath caught painfully. “You know, don’t you?”
Every single one of them blinked at her innocently, their little mouths closed. Helen’s glasses caught light from the overhead chandeliers and sconces; Pansy’s spectacles flashed as she adjusted them with a quivering hand. Hiram’s thin frame was too straight, and Bug’s round faced looked too cherubic for a man who enjoyed an occasional bender on the back forty.
Pepper sighed. “It’s none of your collective business,” she said sternly, and they shook their heads to agree. “No well-meaning encroaching on my private life and no plans for matchmaking or anything else that remotely involves me.”
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Helen said, speaking for the group. “We have no idea what you’re so upset about, Pepper, dear.”
She shook her head. “I think you do. I’m positive you do. But as long as we understand that there are some secrets that must be kept private, like cisterns buried deep on family land—”
“Oh, we do,” Pansy said. “Consider us the most bottomless well known to Tulips.”
“I wish I thought that well could be bottomless, but you simply must not…” She hesitated, not wanting to admit what they already knew. “There is a time and place for everything.”
“Everything to its season,” Bug said. “A good farmer knows this.”
“Then let’s keep our seasons to ourselves,” Pepper said, more sharply than she meant to. When Helen got up to hug her, it made her burst into tears.
“We love you, honey,” the woman said. “We’d never do anything to hurt one of our most dear daughters. We stand by whatever decision you make for you and your boys.”
Pansy came to hug her, too. “All you have to do is tell us what you need from us, and we’re there.”
Pepper’s tears flowed freely, after all the years of keeping her secret. They came too quick for her to stop, so Mr. Parsons flopped a clean, pressed handkerchief into her hand. She used it gratefully.
“I don’t want to tell him,” she murmured, and felt better for admitting it. Not heroic, not brave, just better.
“Well, we’re behind you, whatever you decide to do,” Bug said, “so rest easy on that score.”
Pepper pulled away, gathering herself together to face her boys. What were the consequences of her decisions? She worried as the twins strode into the room, wearing grins and powdered sugar on their faces.
“Excellent cookies, Ms. Pansy, Ms. Helen,” Toby said, and his brother nodded.
“You’ll have to bake more,” Josh said. “We’re going to be great customers.”
Pepper smiled and wiped the last traces of mist from her eyes. “You boys are going to have upset stomachs.”
“It’s all ri
ght,” Toby said. “We have a doctor in our house.” Josh nodded.
She smiled at their pride in her and hoped they’d always feel that—especially when they found out that even doctors made errors in judgment.
AFTER DINNER THAT EVENING Pepper took the boys over to the Triple F. Duke was hanging around doing some yard work, which the boys scrambled to help him with.
“I needed an extra set of hands or two,” he said, handing the boys his tools. Then he looked at his sister. “To what do I owe this good fortune of visiting nephews?”
Pepper swallowed. “I need to make a house call.”
“Ah.” He nodded, glancing at the boys. “One that doesn’t include young fellows.”
She pleaded with her eyes for him not to say any more. Duke sighed and took her by the arm, leading her a few feet away from Toby and Josh.
“Pepper, it’s never been my way to butt into your private life, but eventually, you’re going to have to tell the boys’ father. You can’t hide these two, forever.”
“I know.” She looked up at her brother. “I just want the boys to absorb the shock of the move and being uprooted from their friends and Aunt Jerry before I say, ‘Oh, and conveniently, here is your father, whom I haven’t talked much about over the years.’”
Duke nodded. “You’ve got a level head. You’ll know when the moment is as right as it’s ever going to be. But I will say that it’s going to be hard no matter what, so look out for the best time.”
Pepper began walking to her van. “I’ve got to go see his father. He says he’s not doing as well as he’d like.”
“And there’s that to consider,” Duke called, “not that you don’t already know it.”
“I do know.” She got in the van, feeling the weight of her secrecy, and drove the five miles to the McGarrett homestead.
It was more dilapidated than she’d remembered, but then again, Duke and Zach kept the Triple F in mint condition. Hardly fair to compare, when there was no one to help Mr. McGarrett. Pepper got out of the van, and Luke walked out of the house to meet her, sending her blood pressure higher.