Texas Lullaby (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 7)

by Cynthia D'Alba

  By the time they pulled back into the hotel lot, it was close to eight p.m. She was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. Jason hadn’t complained about anything she’d asked him to do today, but his face was drawn and the creases around his eyes appeared more pronounced, so she assumed he was as exhausted as she.

  The girls were tucked in bed and fast asleep. Levi and Lane were watching some drama cop show, Levi with a bottle and Lane with a beer. Jason went over to speak with his father.

  Lydia chuckled and pointed toward Lane and Levi. “Good thing they didn’t get their bottles mixed up,” she told Jackie, who snorted a laugh.

  “I’m pretty sure Lane would have noticed after the first few sips.”

  “How’s the teeth cutting coming along?”

  “He was a little cranky earlier, but the cold washcloth helped. Have you and Jason had dinner?”

  Lydia shook her head. “We were gone today longer than I thought we’d be, so I felt like I needed to get back.”

  “Everything’s fine here. You should eat,” Jackie said. “You look a little pale.”

  “I probably do. I knew handling all the estate details would be draining, and it was, but I’m more exhausted than I expected.”

  “Go get a nice dinner and then get some sleep.” Jackie tilted her head toward the open adjoining door. “I’ll keep an eye on the girls. They’ll be fine. I can’t get Levi out of Lane’s arms, so I’m not too concerned about him.”

  Lydia smiled. “They do seem taken with each other. Maybe Jason and I can just do room service. I’m too tired to go anywhere.”

  “Use his room,” Jackie suggested. “It’ll be quieter.”

  Lydia suspected this was another effort on Jason’s mother’s part to throw them together and give them private time. It wasn’t that she didn’t want time alone with him. She loved spending time with Jason. However, she knew she had to learn how to live without him.

  “Ready for dinner?” she asked Jason.

  “More than. My stomach is resting on my spine.”

  Lydia rolled her eyes with a chuckle. “Exaggerate much, Counselor?”

  “Never.”

  “Since the twins are asleep in my room, what would you say to ordering room service in your room?”

  Something hot flashed through his eyes and a smile made its way onto his lips. “That sounds like a winning plan.”

  The hotel had been very accommodating giving them three rooms that adjoined. She closed the door that connected her room to his and leaned against it.

  “So…what are you hungry for?” Lydia asked with a slight lift of an eyebrow.

  Chapter Nine

  Jason studied Lydia standing there against the door, one leg bent, her hand trapped behind her ass on the door.

  “Darlin’, nothing looks better to me right now than you.”

  She smiled and a zing of lust rattled through him.

  “I meant food.”

  He shook his head. “No, you didn’t. You knew exactly what you were asking.”

  “Maybe,” she said and tilted her head to one side. Then her posture changed and she stood straight. “Probably not a good idea. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She strode across the room, picked up the in-room menu and began flipping through the pages. “What sounds good? Steak? Burger? Club sandwich?” She glanced up and their gazes locked.

  “What’s going on, Lydia?”

  “I don’t know what you mean?”

  “Yeah, you do. Ever since you got Meredith’s children, you’ve kept me at arm’s length…well, except for one night. I’ve been there for you every step of the way. I haven’t asked you to choose between me and the children. So what’s wrong?”

  She sighed and sat on the foot of his bed. “We’re both tired tonight. I know I am. I’m physically and emotionally beyond exhausted. Let’s not have a serious talk tonight. It won’t go well.”

  Shoving his fists on his hips, he asked, “What does that mean? ‘It won’t go well’?”

  Dropping flat on her back, she stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I really don’t. My plate is full, overflowing. I feel like someone’s handed me chainsaws and expects me to juggle them even though I don’t know the first thing about juggling or chainsaws. For tonight, can we just eat and worry about tomorrow tomorrow?”

  Unease gnawed at him. She was slipping away. He could feel her growing more distant each day. If he pushed her, fought for her, he was sure what her reaction would be. She would drop him from her juggling act, as she envisioned her life. Dealing with a pushy boyfriend could be easily solved by erasing that stressor from her life. That’s not what he wanted, so he’d back off. She’d come back to him when things settled down.

  “You’re right,” he said, dropping on his back beside her on the bed. “It was a long day. I’m tired and a little punchy.”

  She rolled to her side and grinned. “You? Punchy? No, surely not?”

  She poked his ribs. He caught her finger in his hand and rolled on top of her. “I’ll give you punchy,” he joked and began to tickle her. She laughed and pushed at his shoulders, trying to get away, but he was too heavy, too strong for her to throw off.

  Remembering his vow to ease up on the pressure to get their relationship back on track, he rolled off her and sat up with a sigh. “Okay, let’s eat. Did they have prime rib on that menu?”

  They stayed two more days in Wichita filling Jason’s SUV with the children’s toys and clothes. The valuable jewelry was packed away to be put into a lockbox until the kids came of age. Everything else would be sold at an estate auction, one she didn’t have to attend, something she was thankful for. Anything not sold would be donated to the local charity run by Meredith and Jim’s church. A realtor was lined up to list the house once it was empty. The agent assured them it would sell quickly and at a desirable price high enough to pay off the outstanding mortgage.

  Claims were filed against the life-insurance policies, but that was a waiting game. Jason and Lydia agreed that the company would not be happy about paying off two million-dollar policies. He promised to stay on top of it.

  Meredith’s SUV turned out to be a new, fully loaded Cadillac Escalade. Lydia had liked her small sedan when she’d purchased it three years ago. However, she needed something larger for her family. She decided the Escalade would come home with her.

  Jim’s restored Thunderbird was stunning. When Lydia told Jason how many hours of labor had gone into the car, he had to admit it showed. While the car could make the drive back to Texas, he convinced Lydia to let him pull it on a trailer back to Whispering Springs. Where the car would be stored was a problem that would have to be resolved later.

  Their now three-car caravan started home on Thursday morning. The three children rode with her in the Escalade. After spending so much time with her over the past week, Jason’s car felt empty and was way too quiet.

  At the end of a long drive, Lane and Jackie left the caravan and turned toward their ranch with a toot of their horn and a wave.

  Lydia pulled into her drive, the huge SUV taking up every inch of parking space. Jason parked across the street, jumped out and hurried over to meet her. In front of her house sat Cash’s old truck.

  She exited the SUV with a nod toward the trucks. “I see Cash has gotten started.”

  “I called him when we were about thirty minutes out to give him a heads up. I figure that’s the only reason you had an open driveway.”

  “Thanks. Let’s get everybody out and see what’s happening. I’ll take care of the girls if you’ll get Levi. I don’t want them getting into nails or whatever might be lying around.”

  The living room looked normal until her gaze hit the plastic sheeting that sealed the kitchen off from the rest of the house.

  “Yikes. Cash, you here?”

  “Coming,” was the muffled
reply.

  The girls crowded her, pushing against her legs.

  “What’s that?” Ellery asked, pointing to the plastic popping in and out with the change in air pressure.

  “We’re getting a new laundry room and that plastic is keeping all the mess in there and not out here.”

  “Oh,” Ellery said.

  “I’m here,” Cash said, coming through the front door. “I was out back and had to come around the house. Nice new ride.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Hey, girls,” he said, squatting down to their level. “Remember me? Jason’s brother?”

  They nodded.

  “You have a good trip?”

  They nodded again.

  “Still a tad bashful,” Lydia said. “Safe to turn them loose to their room?”

  “Yep. Just as you left it.”

  “I’ll take them,” Jason said. “That’ll give you and Cash time to chat.”

  “So, where are we?” Lydia asked after Jason and the kids were gone. “Making progress?”

  “Slow, but yes. Come on. Let me show you the new laundry room area.”

  The concrete slab for the new laundry slash mud room had been poured and the room was framed in, so Lydia got an idea of how large a room it was going to be…

  “It’s going to be huge,” she said.

  Cash chuckled. “It’ll look a lot smaller when the washer and dryer get in there.”

  “Still, it beats what I have now.”

  Cash pointed to a couple of concrete blocks. “Step through the doorway that leads to the backyard and let’s walk around to your new master suite.”

  “Oh. Master suite. I like the sound of that.”

  Cash had knocked out the end of the hall leading down to the bedrooms where a large closet had been. He’d made a door that would be the entrance to her new room.

  “Here’s what I decided. Instead of using more of the backyard, I found that I could go out through the closet and add on to the side of the house and extend into the back. That way, the kids keep most of the yardage for play.”

  She nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”

  “I built the extension over a crawlspace instead of a slab since it will be easier for all the new plumbing that’ll be required for the master bath.”

  Laughing, she said, “Cash. I don’t know anything about slab versus crawlspace, but I trust you. Whatever you think is best probably is.”

  She had known Cash for years, had watched him mature from a cocky bull rider, to a broken man on the edge of self-destruction, to a mature man confident in his abilities in construction. His marriage to Paige Ryan had been a weekend surprise to all the guests at the Montgomery family camping week last fall. In the eight months since then, she couldn’t remember a happier Cash.

  “How much time are we talking about to get this done?”

  “At least another month.”

  “But your vacation,” she protested.

  He held up his hand. “Don’t even start. My wife promised me a vacation to remember if I did this for you, regardless of how long it took.”

  Lydia laughed. “I’ll have to thank Paige.”

  “I’ve got to get home. Okay if I go in and say bye to the girls?”

  “Of course.”

  Later that night, after all the kids were in bed and she and Jason had collapsed on the sofa, he looked at her. “Living in all this construction is going to be noisy and dusty.”

  She shrugged. “I know.”

  “So while it’s going on, why don’t you and the kids come stay at my place? Just temporarily,” he added.

  She gave the idea serious consideration, but given how strongly Jason didn’t want children in his life, she couldn’t make it okay in her mind to dump three small and potentially destructive children in his refurbished Victorian mansion.

  “Thank you, I mean that, but I’ll try it here. If it gets to be more than we can take, I’ll think about it.”

  “The door’s always open.”

  She kissed him. “Thanks.”

  * * * * *

  For the next couple of weeks, Lydia found activities away from the house to keep the girls busy during the daytime. Swimming lessons at the Y. Beginning ballet classes at the dance academy. Gymnastics at the youth gym. She filled their days with activities. At night, all of them fell into bed in exhausted heaps. But she couldn’t keep out of the house all day and then start cleaning it after everyone was asleep.

  By the second week of construction, Cash moved the plastic off the kitchen entrance to cover the new laundry room door. That gave her the ability to cook, but she had to admit the housecleaning was sorely lacking.

  Thanks to Jason’s sister, Lydia found the ideal housekeeper and babysitter for the children, which would allow her to return to work by the end of May. Polly Henry began working for Lydia about halfway through the construction, keeping as much of the sawdust and mess out of Lydia’s house as possible.

  Luckily, the girls seemed to like her and she them. Levi was beginning to develop an awareness of strangers and new situations, so it took a little longer to win him over, but Mrs. Henry had the patience to wait him out.

  With all the activities, the construction and the continued dealings with Meredith and Jim’s estate, May flew by, and suddenly it was Memorial Day weekend. Whispering Springs loved any holiday, and Memorial Day was an excellent one, judging by the excitement in the city.

  On the eve of Memorial Day, the biggest event in the county was the party thrown at Bar M Ranch. Lane and Jackie invited all the surrounding ranchers and most of the town out for a barbeque in the afternoon, followed by an extravagant fireworks show over the lake on the original homestead. Lydia had gone to this party for years as Jason’s date, but taking the girls to see the fireworks gave her a renewed anticipation for the evening.

  Memorial Day signaled the end of her sabbatical, and she faced that with mixed emotions. She loved being a doctor, the compilation of years of hard work, and she was proud of her accomplishments. Helping the sick and keeping the healthy from getting sick brought her a lot of satisfaction.

  On the other hand, her sister had given her something she’d never thought she would experience…motherhood. Sure, motherhood had its good days and its not-so-good days, but caring for those three precious children had given her pride and satisfaction she’d never experienced from anything in her life thus far.

  Sometimes at night, she would stand in the twins’ bedroom and watch them sleep. The love she felt for them was powerful enough to bring her to her knees. She’d experienced love, she knew she had. She loved Jason, but what she felt when she looked at the children defied words.

  At close to ten that morning, her phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Morning,” Jason said. “How are things at Casa De Destruction?”

  She got that familiar tug behind her belly button she always did when she heard his voice. “Messy.”

  “I wish you would have taken me up on my offer. The kids and you are still more than welcome at Chez Montgomery.”

  She shook her head, not that he could see her reaction. “And I appreciate the offer. I really do, but we’re fine. Mrs. Henry is keeping most of the dirt and disorder under control. Cash and the guys he hired are doing their best to help, so we’re fine. Plus, it gets me out of the house. The girls are loving the new classes. All their energy is burned by the time we get home. Did I tell you that Levi is crawling?”

  He laughed. “No. Well, your days of freedom are over.”

  “Yeah, like I had any of those days anyway. So that’s another reason it’s probably good we didn’t come to your place. All those beautiful knick-knacks the decorator sat around your place would be at high risk from little hands.”

  “Who cares? It’s just stuff.”

  “Hold on
a second. The timer is going off on the stove.”

  She set her cell on the counter and pulled an apple pie and a cherry cobbler from the oven and set them on the back of her stovetop to cool.

  “I’m back. My pies are ready for this afternoon.”

  “What’d you bake this year? Tell me you made a cherry cobbler.”

  “A cherry what?” she teased. “Never heard of it.”

  “Not funny,” he said. “I’ve got my mouth all set for your cobbler.”

  “Well, I’ll see what I can do.”

  He chuckled. “Thought maybe you and the kids would go with me to Mom and Dad’s this afternoon.”

  “You don’t have to come get us. Since I got Meredith’s SUV, I have loads of room.”

  “Well, how about I ride with you then?”

  Her belly tug became a hard jerk. She hadn’t seen him this whole week. He’d been in court representing a client on a complicated mail fraud case while she’d been hauling the children all over town. They’d talked on the phone in the evenings after the twins’ fell asleep, but her brain was pretty much dead by that time, making intelligent, adult conversation difficult.

  “Do you want to?”

  “Sure. No sense in taking two cars. You know how tight the parking gets. Going together frees up a parking spot for someone else.”

  Ah. So he was being considerate more than really wanting to be around her and the children.

  “If you want to, then fine. We’d love to have you. Do you need to be there early to help your dad with anything?”

  “Not this year. With Cash and Travis living so close, they pulled the set-up job.”

  “Great. What time do you need to be there?”

  “Dad is ringing the dinner bell at four, so maybe by three or so.”

  “That works for me. That’s about the time I’d decided anyway.”

  “See you about two.”

  She’d already picked out her outfit for the barbeque, but maybe she’d do a little more with her make-up before he arrived.

  For some reason, the twins were irritable and had been arguing and fighting all morning. By noon, she was giving serious consideration to throwing in the towel and staying home, and she would have if she didn’t think the girls would really love the fireworks. She put both girls in their beds and told them to stay there. She hoped maybe they would fall asleep and wake up in better moods. They didn’t, of course. Why should fate make it easy on her?