“But you had so many sticks!”
“I put it all on one thing.” He frowned and rested his arm on his knee, hand dangling. With the other hand he gestured. “I was sure I was going to win.”
“A lot of gamblers feel that way.”
“I don’t like gambling.”
“I see.” It was a relief to know there were some risks Kevin didn’t enjoy.
“Gray’s good at it, though.”
“Gray’s older and I imagine Clint taught him a lot.”
Kevin frowned and picked at the tear on the knee of his pants. He obviously had something on his mind.
“Gray said that Clint and Jenna adopted him.”
Her stomach fell a little. “Yes.”
He cut her a glance. “I don’t know who my father is.”
“I don’t know who mine is, either.”
That surprised him.
“Does it bother you?”
“It used to bother me a lot.”
“And now?”
Her first instinct was to lie, but she owed him better. “To be honest, it still does. Sometimes, I’d walk around the town where I grew up, looking at all the different men to see if I could see my face in theirs.”
“How come your mother didn’t tell you who your daddy was?”
How many times had she asked that question herself? “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “She’s not a woman who thinks the past matters.”
“But your father’s the present.”
She shrugged. “There was nothing I could do about it, so, finally, I just accepted if he’d wanted to be in my life he would have been.”
Kevin fell silent again, grinding the toe of his worn leather shoe into the porch boards. She waited patiently for him to speak his mind. Finally, he looked up.
“I like it here.”
It was almost a challenge. Her stomach dropped again. “I know.”
Another long pause and then, “Do you think if we asked her nicely Jenna and Clint would adopt us?”
“You want to be adopted?”
“Not just me.” He made an inclusive circling motion with his hand. “All of us. You, me, Tony, and Melinda Sue.” Excitement vibrated through him. “We could all stay here. Together.”
Oh, Kevin. “I’m too old to be adopted.”
“Then maybe you could marry Jackson and just stay near.”
Her heart did a ker-thump at the thought. “That’s not likely, but if we did, wouldn’t you like to live with me and Jackson?”
He frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that. I just thought we’re family and we’d find a family together.”
She didn’t know what to do with that. Apparently, he didn’t see her as a mother any more than she saw herself that way. “How does Tony feel?”
“Tony wants us to stay together.”
“I see.” She was trying so hard to be a mother to them and she’d failed so thoroughly. It was a crushing revelation.
He scuffed his heel across the porch. Fussed with a bit of dust on the arm of the rocker. “Do you think they found Melinda Sue?”
“I’m sure they did.”
“Then why aren’t they here?”
“They’re probably waiting for daylight to travel.” It was the most plausible lie she could think of.
He shot it down with irrefutable logic. “The moon’s bright enough.”
“They might be too tired.”
He agreed, albeit reluctantly, before adding, “I think Melinda Sue would like it here, too.”
She wasn’t sure why he was pushing so hard to create his family here. “Did Jenna say something to you?”
“No, but she adopted Brenna and Gray and Bri. She might like us, too. Melinda Sue can be a pain, but Tony and I could keep her quiet.”
So much angst packed into one sentence.
“Keeping Melinda Sue quiet is quite the tall order.”
“Yeah.” He kicked his foot and frowned. “She’d probably ruin everything.”
Mimi’s heart twisted at the defeated acceptance in the statement. “Did you have a family, Kevin? You know, before we met?”
The shake of his head ended on a shrug. “Sort of. My aunt took care of me, and she was, well, you know where she worked.”
Unfortunately, she did.
“My mother’s dead.” Hunching his shoulders as if to soften the blow of memory, he continued. “Before we went to live at Mac’s, she tried to find me a pa. She brought a few men home, but . . .” He scuffed his heel across the chair rung. “They always got mean, and after a week or so they’d leave.”
“But your aunt kept trying. She loved you.”
He nodded. “After a while, I wished she’d stop.” He shrugged. “And then she did.”
Silence again. This time when the door opened, Tony came out loaded down with cookies. He handed one to Mimi before he sat down on her other side. “What are you all talking about?”
Kevin cast her a quick warning look. “Just this and that.”
He nodded and took a bite of the cookie. “Mrs. Jenna makes good cookies.”
“Yes, she does a lot of things well.”
“I like her.”
“I like her, too.”
“Mr. McKinnley’s a little scary, though.”
“Gray doesn’t think so,” Kevin taunted.
“Gray’s known Clint longer.” Mimi swatted a mosquito. “Do you like this town, Tony?”
“The people we’ve met are nice.”
“Maybe when things get better we can come back here and stay.”
Tony looked at her. “Things never get better.”
He was too young to be so negative, but then again whenever had he been given a reason to be positive?
“It would be nice to be able to stay in one spot, though,” Tony admitted.
“I liked it at the other house,” Mimi said.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Tony said, “but there’s more to do here in town.”
Kevin perked up, obviously remembering something. “Mrs. Jenna said tomorrow we can eat at her restaurant.”
“It’s the same food as here,” Tony pointed out with all the arrogance of his two-year advantage.
“Yeah, but it’s in a restaurant!”
“It sounds exciting to me,” Mimi agreed before a squabble could break out.
“Do you like being in town, Mimi?” Kevin asked.
“Yes. I grew up in the city. The mercantile was just a block away, and there was always somebody to talk to, something to do.”
“Did you have a lot of friends?” Kevin asked.
“My situation was difficult.” Had they never really talked about this before? She guessed not. It was always so busy. First with trying to protect them in Mac’s house, then trying to get them out, and then trying to keep them alive. Afterward, there just hadn’t been a lot of time for conversation. “Do you remember what it was like when we lived at Mac’s? How people used to assume things about you because of where we lived?”
Tony nodded and Kevin brushed the bottom of his pants off. “Yep.”
“Well, I lived in a little house in town with my mother, but everybody knew my mother hadn’t been married to my father. That in itself might not have been so horrible, but my mother wasn’t happy. She didn’t like how her life turned out, so she liked to make rules for everybody around her to follow. People tried to be friends with her, but . . . I don’t know.” She spread her hands helplessly. “I thought sometimes that she resented them for wanting to be her friend.”
“So they didn’t talk to you, either?”
She shook her head. “And if they did, she would tell me whether I could talk to them or not. It was difficult.” There was no way to explain how her mother seemed to believe that everybody in the world had an ulterior motive and that they
were best just staying away from the world. She’d felt very alone growing up. Even to this day, she still wasn’t sure she knew how to make friends.
“I always thought having a mother would be fun, but doesn’t seem like it was much fun for you.”
She spread her hands wide again. “I think family is just like anything else. I think you have to know how to make it work.”
“I don’t know how to make it work,” Tony confessed.
“Then we’re all just going to have to do the same thing. We’re going to have to imitate people who do. If we copy people who know what they’re doing, then we can’t go wrong, right?”
Tony shifted position. “Like Mrs. Mara and Mr. Cougar.”
“Exactly.”
“Like Mrs. Jenna and Mr. Clint.”
“Yeah. They really know what they’re doing,” Tony agreed before adding, “Gray, Brenna, and Brianna are happy. Gray said Mr. Clint is teaching him to shoot.”
There was envy in his voice, and what could she tell him? That maybe Clint would teach him to shoot, too, when she didn’t even know if they were going to be here? “I’m sure we’ll have opportunities to learn all the things that we want to do.”
Kevin took the book out of her hand and flipped the pages. “Have you figured it out yet?”
She shook her head. “I think I should be able to see it, but I can’t.”
“What happens if we figure out who the people are in this book?”
“I don’t know.”
Tony sighed and held out his hand for the book. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
She didn’t need him to tell her that. “Well, I think that’s pretty much how it’s going to be for a while. I’m not going to always know and we’re just going to have to wing it.”
Neither boy looked thrilled, and how could she blame them? They’d finally had a taste of what they’d been missing and now they wanted it for themselves.
“We’ll figure it out.”
Both boys nodded. Tony handed her back the book. “Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
“Yes.” Looking down the trail, hoping against hope to see Jackson ride in on Little Lady, Melinda Sue safely in front of him, Mimi felt the same weariness and insecurity reflected in Tony’s voice. “Definitely sooner.”
Sixteen
There was nothing better, Jackson decided, than coming home and witnessing your woman light up like the sun cresting the horizon when she saw you.
“I hope Jenna’s got breakfast cooking,” Elijah said, rubbing his stomach. “If I don’t eat something soon, I’m going to waste away.”
Clint snorted. “It’s going to take more than a day without a meal for you to disappear.”
Elijah grunted. Clint smiled. Jackson nudged Melinda Sue, who was dozing on the saddle in front of him.
“Do you see Mimi, Melinda Sue?”
The little girl snapped up straight. “Where?”
He pointed. “Right there on the porch.”
She rubbed her eyes, spotted Mimi, and started waving her arms. “Mimi! Mimi!”
As if Mimi hadn’t already seen her there. As if she wasn’t coming down off the porch, skirts raised, showing a delectable bit of ankle.
“Mimi!”
Mimi was already running across the dew-wet lawn toward him, her joy leading the way.
“Put me down,” Melinda Sue ordered, kicking her feet. “Put me down.”
The front door banged open. Out came Kevin, Tony, and Gray. Behind them, Jenna holding a squirming little Brianna. At nearly two, she was a handful.
“Don’t kick while I put you down. You’ll hurt Lady.”
She switched kicking for wiggling. “Hurry!”
Holding on to Melinda Sue’s arm, he carefully lowered her to the ground. Lady flicked her ears at the commotion but held her manners. He owed her an extra measure of oats for her patience of late. As soon as Melinda Sue’s feet hit the ground, she took off, racing across the grass.
“Melinda Sue!” Scooping up the girl, Mimi gave her a big hug, holding her tightly, spinning in a circle. Over the little girl’s shoulder, her eyes asked a question. He shook his head and mouthed a “no.” They hadn’t hurt her.
Mimi hugged Melinda Sue again, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I was so worried about you!”
Wrapping her legs around Mimi’s waist, cupping her cheeks in her hands, and shoving her face close, Melinda Sue announced, “Me and Mr. Jackson had adventures.”
“I can’t wait to hear about them.” Satisfied with Melinda Sue’s health, Mimi turned her attention to him. “But first let me thank Mr. Montgomery for bringing you home.”
Shifting sideways, Melinda Sue beamed at him. “Mr. Jackson says I can be bad all I want, and he’ll always bring me home.”
That got him a raised brow. “He did, huh?”
“That wasn’t exactly the agreement.”
Melinda stuck her lip out. “Was, too.” To Mimi she whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “He loves me.”
Clint and Elijah laughed out loud.
Jackson had a hard time containing his own laughter. “Dang it, Melinda Sue, you’re not supposed to just blurt out a man’s secrets like that.”
Melinda Sue was completely unrepentant. “It’s all right. I loves you, too.”
Mimi laughed, grinned, and shook her head.
Clint nudged his horse toward the house. “I’m going to leave you to it. You all are making me hungry to greet my wife.”
Urging his horse into a trot, slapping hands with Gray as he went by, he headed for the porch. With consummate grace, he leapt off in front of a waiting Jenna. She kissed him with the same passion that Jackson wanted to kiss Mimi with, but Clint and Jenna were married and had privileges he did not. Yet.
Elijah cleared his throat. “I’m going to wash up. If I’m not mistaken, that’s bacon cooking.”
Mimi just shook her head, and she kept on smiling and kept on coming. Jackson kneed Lady forward, more than happy to meet her halfway.
The boys caught up with her before he did. Excited to see the boys, Melinda Sue squealed and wiggled. Mimi handed her over to Tony, who twirled her around and pelted her with questions the little girl was happy to answer.
Smoothing her hair, Mimi took six more steps toward him and then stopped. Holding her hands out in invitation, she tossed the ball into his court.
She was so beautiful in the soft morning light. The flush from exertion brought out the blue of her eyes and the soft strands of blonde streaking her hair. She stood there, breasts heaving slightly, lips parted, waiting for him to reach her. When he did, she placed her hand on his thigh and stepped in. Her gaze searched his. His searched hers.
She spoke first. “You look tired.”
“You look beautiful.”
She opened her mouth, to protest, he was sure. He cut her off. “Just say thank you.”
“I can’t stop smiling. You’re so beautiful.”
“Men aren’t beautiful.”
She tossed his own words back at him. “Just say thank you.”
Even dead tired, the woman could make him laugh. “Anyone ever told you, you’ve got more sass than ten people?”
“Only ten? I must be slipping.”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “Come here.”
He held out his hand. She grabbed his forearm.
Kicking his foot out of the stirrup, he ordered, “Put your foot in the stirrup.”
She did, catching her skirt and almost slipping, but he lifted her out of trouble. When she landed across his lap, palms braced against his chest, she laughed. There’d never been a better sound to come home to than that.
He leaned in. “I said come here.”
She stretched up. He tasted her laugh before her kiss. Sweet joy, then passion. Brushing his lips acr
oss her forehead, he confessed, “I might be in trouble here.”
She looked at him, and there was just so much emotion in her eyes, it spilled over into her hug.
“You trying to break my ribs, woman?”
“I was so worried you weren’t going to come home,” she whispered, checking him over for injuries. She found the bruise on his shoulder and the one on his ribs. He shook his head at her frown. “Bruises, nothing more. I’m fine.”
“And the men who took Mellie?”
“They’re not a problem anymore.”
Her teeth sank into her lower lip. “They’re dead?”
“You don’t need to fear them anymore.”
He was stopped from filling her in about Mac by the boys coming up. There was always later. Smiling, he ruffled Kevin’s hair and shook Tony’s hand. “Hey there, you two. Did you hold down the fort while I was gone?”
Kevin stood straight. “We did.”
“Good to know I have you to depend on.”
Both boys stood a little taller. He wasn’t so old that he couldn’t remember how tall praise could make a man feel, no matter what the age. “Thank you.”
A little pressure from his knee sent Lady ambling forward.
The boys strolled alongside them, pelting him with questions.
“Was there a fight?”
“Did anybody get hurt?”
He managed to get in a “no” and a “yes” before they hit him with, “Did you kill anybody?”
The “of course” died on his tongue as Mimi shook her head. “Shouldn’t you boys first be asking if Mr. Montgomery is all right?” she said.
Tony snorted. “I know he’s all right—otherwise you’d be looking at his wounds.”
Jackson couldn’t tell if her snort covered laughter or disgust as she complained, “I’d like to think I’d wait until he got off the horse.”
Laughter, Jackson decided. It was definitely laughter.
Kevin was just as quick to retort, “Not hardly. You don’t have much in the way of patience.”
That stung her. He could tell.
“Harrumph.”
“Mimi’s got plenty of patience when she needs it, but mostly she’s always hurrying because you all have things you feel you need . . . right”—he mimicked Kevin’s whine when he wanted something—“now.”
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