by Tina Leonard
The shriek was definitely feminine. “I think the wicked witch just took a much-needed bath,” she told them. “Come on. Let’s fix you some peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.”
“Are they fighting?” one of the children asked.
“No,” Cissy said with a smile. “The Jefferson brothers are just having a little fun.”
“I want to go have some fun!”
“Not that kind of fun. You sit right here and I’ll fix you some grape soda.” And then Cissy realized that the children were her surprise from Tex, and her heart went finally, irrevocably over the edge.
AFTER THEY’D CALLED the police to take away Marvella and her thugs, the brothers joined Cissy and the children downstairs.
“This reminds me of the old days,” Last said cheerfully as he sat at the table with eight of Cissy’s nieces and nephews. The baby had stayed home with Gran. “Only now I’m the biggest at the table,” he told the children. “But if you’ll notice those ugly knots standing around the room,” Last said, pointing to his brothers, “I’m the baby around them.”
The children couldn’t imagine Last being a “baby” because he was so tall, as all the Jefferson men were. Cissy smiled at their innocent awe. “It’s a wonderful surprise,” she whispered to Tex. “What made you do it?”
“We might as well kick off our honeymoon with eight little firecrackers,” he said. “Besides, I thought Gran would like me better if I gave her a little timeout. She needed a caretaker’s respite.” He kissed her on the temple. “I love your hair,” he said. “Next week, we’re going red.”
She leaned against him, remembering her part as Last glanced over at them. “You’re so adventurous.”
“You have no idea. I always considered myself a man of the soil, but now I’m thinking I may go over to the watery side of life.”
“You could raise water lilies,” Cissy said. “Or cattails.”
“Say. Aren’t you the bright, helpful one.” He tugged gently at her hair.
“So. You really got married,” Last said. His brothers looked up at the change of conversation. “I don’t know that I believe it.”
“Believe it,” Tex said. “I hooked this little gal fair and square.”
Last frowned. “When did this all come about? I gotta tell you, Mason about jumped through the roof when I told him. He said he’s tired of this family running off half cocked, getting married like thieves in the night.”
“Do thieves get married in the night?” Tex asked easily, opening a soda. “I’m thinking they’re busy working then.”
“You know what I mean,” Last said with determination. “You’re the fourth brother to just up and marry like it’s no big thing. I mean, is it or not?”
“So who’s upset? You or Mason?”
“We all are. How would you feel if I got married and didn’t tell you?”
Tex thought about that. “Well, it would surprise me, since you’ve always been the moral compass of the family. But if it was the right thing for you to do, I’d send you a gift and my congratulations.”
“Shoot.” Last looked at Cissy. “I smell a rat, and his name is Tex.”
“No need for you to be so suspicious,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Would he have asked you to bring eight kids out here if he didn’t have honorable intentions?”
Last rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re too good for him,” he told Cissy. “If he decides to fade out on you, you can call me.”
She sensed he was talking that way just to get a reaction out of Tex. But Tex just shrugged. “Ever the worrier. Eat your jelly sandwich, Last. These little children are monkey-see, monkey-do, and you’re the biggest monkey they’ve seen lately.”
BANDERA, CROCKETT, NAVARRO, Last and Tex sat on the lounge chairs or stood at the rail while Cissy put the children down for a nap. The kids had run all over the docks and the surrounding land, throwing pine cones, counting clouds and generally wearing the Jefferson brothers out. Tex grinned, thinking his brothers deserved the workout they’d gotten.
“Hey,” he said. “Thanks for bringing the kids. You shoulda seen Cissy’s face light up.”
“She likes those little barn swallows,” Bandera said. “You’d best be careful or you’re going to end up pushing a stroller.”
“Nah.” Tex tossed some peanut shells into the water, watching small fish inspect them curiously.
“We noticed your face lit up pretty good, too, when you realized the cavalry had arrived,” Navarro said. “Lucky we weren’t letting Last drive or we might have gotten here five minutes after you were taking a dunking.”
“True.” Tex grinned. “I did think there for a minute that I might have let Cissy down.”
Last opened a soda and looked his way. “So is that the trade-off? You take care of Cissy, and get her out of her contract, and she gives you respectability?”
“No!” Tex glared at his brother. “Why can’t you believe that our marriage is the real deal?”
“Because I know you. And by the way, guess who got stuck cleaning up the mess you made in the rose garden? Huh? And I do mean stuck,” Last said sourly. “Those thorns were everywhere! Of course, I am always the one who gets to tidy up after you numbskulls.”
“Whew,” Crockett said. “With Mason as the oldest, and Last as the youngest, we’re bookkended by the two family sourpusses.”
Tex grinned. “You know, it’s not as bad having a few of us around. It’s the total sum that’s irritating.”
“Yeah, but I miss Frisco Joe, and Ranger, and Laredo,” Bandera said.
Tex tossed a peanut shell and thought about Laredo. “I thought I’d miss my twin, but it’s not as hard as I thought, since I know he’s happy.”
“Yeah, but everybody moved away. Even you’re moving away,” Last said.
“No. I’m not.” Tex shook his head.
Nobody said anything and he glanced up, seeing all his brothers staring at him.
“Do you mean that Cissy’s coming to live at the ranch?” Last asked. “There’ll be a woman there besides Helga?”
Navarro, Crockett and Bandera began clapping. “No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Tex said, his face turning red. “Of course I wouldn’t bring Cissy to live at Malfunction Junction. That’d be the worst thing that could happen to her.”
“Dang,” Navarro said. “It wouldn’t hurt for our female population to grow. Cissy might have some friends who could liven things up a bit.”
“Or, most important, take Mason off our hands,” Crockett said, to which Navarro and Bandera huzzahed enthusiastically.
Refusing to be sidetracked, Last pinned an eagle’s eye on Tex. “So,” Last said, “help me out here with the logistics. How’s Cissy not going to live at Malfunction Junction, but you’re not moving away?”
WHEN THE CHILDREN AWAKENED from their nap, Cissy led them upstairs to have a snack. The brothers took them swimming, and when the children tired of riding around on the men’s backs, they went on deck and opened a can of corn to toss to the fish.
It was the most fun Cissy could remember having.
Last sidled up to her while she was laying little shirts over a rail to dry. “I hope you’ll call us if you need anything now that you’re part of the family.”
She smiled at him. “Tex and I will be fine. But thank you.”
“You make sure he treats you right,” Last said eagerly. “He did marry you legally, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Cissy said with a laugh. “Better than legal. He followed in Ranger’s footsteps, and I’d say that worked out very well for him and Hannah.”
“Well.” Last scratched at his neck. “I guess if two people can stand traveling the country in a truck with nothing but the sound of each other to keep them company besides the radio, then they belong together.”
“You see?” Cissy turned over a little shirt that was nearly dry. “Conventional ways are not the only ways.”
“Yeah, but I’d still feel better if he married you in a church,”
Last said hopefully. “I don’t trust Tex. Not to be indelicate, but I know that there was a matter of a contract—”
“And all that is resolved,” Cissy interrupted. “The contract was broken by my employer. And Tex hasn’t bolted. He doesn’t need to stay with me anymore. But he is.” She smiled at Last, keeping up her part of the bargain with Tex.
“I guess so.” But he didn’t look convinced. “Where are you two going to live?”
“I don’t know. It’s been a whirlwind courtship, hasn’t it?”
“That it has.” Last stared at her. “Almost too cyclonic.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked.
“Me? No way. I’m too busy taking care of the family to have a girl. Mason thinks he does all the worrying about the Family Problem—that’s what he calls it. However, it is actually me who worries with efficacy. I find the solutions.”
“Are you glad Tex married me?”
He nodded. “I am. I’m just not certain you didn’t get the short end of the stick.”
Cissy patted his arm. “I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time. And see those children out there stickying Tex up with corn juice? They’re getting something they haven’t had in a long time.”
“Hey, I’m sorry about your family.” Last watched the kids chucking corn and laughing when it hit the water. “I worry so much about mine I forget that yours has got a real problem.”
“Luckily for me, Tex thought of a way to get some help to look for my siblings. And I know you probably didn’t want to come all the way out here today, but I do appreciate you bringing the children. It was generous of Tex to think of it. Actually, Tex has done a lot for me,” she said, her tone wistful. “And he’s been so undercover and subtle about it that I never realized how much he’d done until now.”
She glanced up, and Last was staring at her with a questioning expression.
“I think it’s time for us to take the children back to Gran,” he said suddenly. “Cissy, welcome to the family.”
She was fine until he said that. Until then, she hadn’t felt guilty about what she was doing.
However, now that she’d spent time with the Jefferson brothers, she realized just how much they needed to believe that they were going to find their own happy endings.
And of course, her relationship with Tex was just a preplanned breakup.
“NOW ARE YOU SATISFIED, little brother?” the Jefferson brothers asked Last after they’d dropped the children off at Gran’s and said goodbye. “Are you convinced that Tex is over his fear of intimacy?”
“They seem to like each other real well,” Navarro said.
“They seem to be willing to compromise. Real important in a marriage,” Crockett added.
“She seems sweet and giving,” Bandera stated, “which I thought was a change of pace for Tex since he’s always liked fast women.”
Last slapped his knee. “That’s what’s bugging me! When I was talking to Cissy about Tex, it was like the light of heaven was shining on her face. She’s falling in love, or is already in love with our ape of a brother. But I’ll bet you a month’s worth of chores that Tex has already planned his escape route.” He glared at them knowingly. “Trust me, this marriage doesn’t have the glow of forever on it. And one pretty little lady’s going to end up with a very broken heart.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Last!” Crockett exclaimed. “Why do you always have to be the font of knowledge?”
Navarro sighed. “He’s annoying, but he’s usually freaking right.”
Chapter Fourteen
The silence that settled over the riverboat that evening was unsettling to Tex. He hadn’t realized how much he enjoyed the noise and drama of his brothers and Cissy’s kids.
“That was quite a surprise,” Cissy told him. “Thank you.”
“My version of a wedding gift, under the circumstances,” he said, forcing himself to sound casual.
“It was very sweet, particularly as I got you nothing.”
He grinned. “I wouldn’t say that. I heard you fending Last off quite well.”
“I’m not certain he believed me.”
“You bought me some credibility, though. And for that, I thank you.”
“What are you going to tell your brothers when we get a divorce?”
He shook his head. “That it didn’t work out.”
“Speaking of not working out, now that Marvella has decided I’m no longer worth her employment, I feel pretty safe skipping the blood test and the legal wedding Hawk suggested.”
That caught him by surprise, and maybe even disappointed him a little. “If that’s what you want.”
“It keeps things from getting sticky. We take off our rope rings, and we go our separate ways.”
She was awfully nonchalant for a woman discussing a wedding. Shouldn’t she be pressing him to commit further? Cissy was working toward uncommitting him. “Okay.”
“Again, thank you, Tex. I really enjoyed seeing my family.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“And for getting Marvella off my case for good. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me. It’s been a long time since I felt like my life might actually start moving forward.”
He nodded, not saying that he felt the same. There for a moment, when he realized it was just him and Cissy against two determined hoodlums and one mean woman, he’d been very worried. He’d never been so glad to see his brothers in his life. The cavalry arriving to band together once again.
He was feeling sentimental for the old days, but he wanted to move forward with his life, too. That’s why he was here on this riverboat with Cissy.
They looked at each other for a few moments.
“I like your hair better this way. Short and dark is real sexy.”
“You like it better?”
Her surprised tone didn’t faze him. “It looks more real to me. More you. I guess the darkness brings out your face more, so I’m looking at you instead of your hair. I never realized that’s what I was doing before.” It bothered him that he was starting to learn more and more things about her.
She blinked. “I think I’ll go to bed now.”
It was their honeymoon, and yet they were both awkward. “Should I kiss you good-night?”
“No,” she said nonchalantly. “You don’t have to.”
And then she went down the stairs.
Have to? He liked kissing Cissy. He’d loved sleeping with her.
So why was he still up here and she was down there?
Because Last’s moral compass had changed direction, pointing to an error in Tex’s plan.
“HEY, DAD,” MIMI SAID, going to stand at his bedside. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” the sheriff replied. “I’m going to make it another day.”
She smiled, holding his hand. “You’re going to make it a lot longer than that. The doctor thinks you can go home tomorrow.”
“I’ll like that.” He gazed at her, his eyes more tired than they’d been in his stronger days. “I’m sorry you had to come back early from your honeymoon, Mimi. I really like Brian.”
“I know.” She stroked his hair away from his face. “Dad, we need to tell folks you’re not feeling your best.”
After a moment, he slowly nodded. “I know.”
“I suggest we ask for a leave of absence. The deputy can head the department until you’re back on your feet. That way you don’t have to resign your office.”
“True. But once people hear I’m under the weather, they’ll start coming to visit. Once they see me, Mimi, they’re going to know that this isn’t simply a cold.”
Patting his hand, she said, “Dad, would it be so bad to retire? Work a little less?”
“To me, yes. Law enforcement’s what I do. Union Junction’s been good to me, and I do my best to keep it a safe place for folks to raise their young families. Grow old.” Sighing, he said, “I planned on going to my grave wearing my star.”
Tea
rs welled in Mimi’s eyes. “Well, you’re not going to your grave. So let’s not have any of that talk.” She took a deep breath. “Dad, I’m expecting a baby. You’re going to have a grandchild.”
His eyes widened. “A grandchild?”
She nodded, forcing herself to smile and make the tears go away. “Yes. Someone else in the house besides you and me.”
He grinned. “Well, whaddya know about that? I’m going to be a grandfather! That’s something I never thought I’d say, Mimi. A grandbaby! In nine months?” he asked. “Or maybe less?”
She wished she could speed up the process for him. “Nine months, Daddy. We’ll just have to be patient.”
Delight spread over his face. “I can be patient, if it means getting to hold my first grandchild.” And then he held out his hands for her to come close and hug him. She did, and he whispered “I love you” in her hair.
She closed her eyes against the tears. “I love you, too, Daddy.”
“HOW’S THE RUNAWAY MARRIED couple?” Mason demanded as Last and the brothers strode into the room, tossing hats as they entered.
“Running away,” Last said. “Maybe floating away would be the more operative verb.”
“What about Cissy? Is she good enough for him?” Mason demanded. “Or did she rope him in to get out of that damn contract?”
The brothers grunted and threw themselves into various chairs, except Navarro, who went into the kitchen, grabbed a bunch of beer cans, sailing them one by one toward his brothers, who skillfully caught them. “Like seals catching fish tossed by a trainer,” he commented.
“Practice makes perfect,” Bandera said happily, opening his beer.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Mason said to Navarro. “Do you realize someone’s going to be killed by a flying beer can eventually?”
“My aim’s good,” Navarro said, coming to join his family in front of the tube.
“Yeah, well, once we have the pitter-patter of little feet around here, there’ll be no more lager missiles.” Mason looked at Last. “So you got anything else to say on the bride and groom?”