Ty could have sworn he heard sheets rustling and what sounded like a baby crying cut off by a door closing. He frowned up at Zack who just shrugged. “Yeah, right.”
“She’s cookin’ him breakfast,” Tim said with a chuckle.
“I’m all alone. Now, what the hell do y’all want?”
“I have a message from Aunt Susie.” Zack sat in on the arm of the couch while Tim perched on the coffee table.
“Which is?”
“Get your ass home,” Zack said.
“Go to hell!”
“No don’t cut it, Zander. Hell, you’ve missed both your brother’s weddings.” Tim sipped his coffee and eyed Ty.
Ty added his own two cents. “That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
“Kiss my ass, Tyrell.”
“Big city boy’s turnin’ into a punk,” Ty said with a snort.
“Hey, screw you. You assholes called here and woke me up, not the other way around.”
“That’s what you get for sleeping in, lazy ass.”
“Fuck you too, Zack.”
Tim waved his hands in the air, motioning for the floor, and moved to sit beside Ty. As if being closer to the speaker would help change Zander’s mind. “Momma wants to see you.”
“You haven’t been home in two years,” Ty scolded. And they’d had to twist his arm then, too. He’d just moved to Dallas and couldn’t use distance as an excuse like he had when he lived in Georgia.
“And we’ll kidnap your ass, Mr. FBI-Agent-Man, if you don’t come home for Thanksgiving. It’s just as simple as that.” Tim’s tone was teasing, but Ty knew, from the frown on his face, he was dead serious.
“Aunt Susie said...” Zack began only to be interrupted by a now-irate Zander.
“I don’t give a damn what Aunt Susie said! This is bullshit!”
“No, you not coming home to meet your new family is bullshit,” Zack said. “You have a new sister, two new sisters-in-law, a niece who misses you and a nephew you barely know. Not to mention two babies...”
“Fine! Fine, Dammit! I’ll be in Wednesday and I’m staying at Tim’s.”
The line went dead.
“What the hell crawled up his ass?” Ty blew out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding as he disconnected the call.
“I have no clue.” Zack sighed.
Apparently, Zander hadn’t learned to rein in his white-hot, redheaded temper and that didn’t sound good for Thanksgiving. Or the family. The change in his father had been incredible. He smiled and laughed three times as much as he ever had before, and even Momma had relaxed--as much as Momma ever could. They teased each other now, and the hard lines around her mouth were gone. Ty didn’t like to think of Zander showing up and rocking the boat.
“Arrogant little shit,” Tim muttered. “I’ll talk to him when he gets in, since he’s staying with me. Guess I better clean up one of the spare bedrooms.”
“Get Rene to do it,” Zack teased, attempting to hide a grin behind his fists.
“Hah!”
Ty snickered. Then Tim’s next words sent him into a panic.
“I better head out. I’ve got two horses to finish training by Christmas.”
“Hey ... Hey, Tim.” He sat up, elbows propped on his knees.
“Hey what?” he asked, standing.
“How do you ... uhhh.” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. He shook his head and sank back on the couch cushions. “Never mind. Forget it.”
“No, what?” Tim stood over him, one eyebrow quirked.
“How do you, you know ... ah hell.” All he wanted was a few pointers. He had to ask someone. He couldn’t ask Bettina, for crying out loud. Ty glanced at Zack from the corner of his eye and took a deep breath.
“O-oral sex,” he whispered, and made a prompting motion with his hand, hoping his brother would take the hint, only to jump as coffee spewed across Bettina’s coffee table.
Zack snorted and wheezed with laugher, lumbering to his feet. “I’m ... I’m sorry, Ty. Oh God, look at the time. I promised Jessa ... I gotta go.”
“Chicken,” Tim yelled out.
Zack’s parting shot from the door entailed something about Tim being the expert in the family.
“Never mind,” Ty said, standing. He had to get that coffee off Bettina’s table or she’d have a fit. God, he should have just kept his mouth shut.
“No, no, no,” Tim said with a laugh, waving his hands. “Gimme a minute.”
“I need to clean Bee’s table off.” Ty got a dishrag from the kitchen and quickly mopped up the mess Tim had made.
Tim followed him back into the kitchen. “Before ... we get into the particulars of oral sex, did you tell her? About the abuse?”
“Not yet.” Ty stared out the kitchen window. “I told her I saw Rhea, that I had a nightmare. And, um, that I didn’t want Rhea. She was upset but like I said earlier, I think we got it all talked out. I’m just not ready to tell her.”
“Fine. It’s your choice. Now, do you really not ... know how?” His voice trailed off.
“Rhea said it was gross.” He kept his head down and very carefully draped the damp dishtowel over the edge of the sink.
“But Bettina?
What about Bettina? He thought about it. About her. About tasting her. Would she like it? Of course, she would. This was the woman who brought them both to climax on the couch last week.
“I understand the basics ... I’m not a complete idiot. I just ... put me out of my misery already, would ya?”
Tim sighed. “Alright. Here’s what you do...”
Chapter Twenty-One
Good enough
That’ll teach me to instigate morning sex. What the hell had happened in the middle of my early morning blowjob? He didn’t want That Bitch. But what the hell had That Bitch done to my husband that left him with nightmares? I could only hope when he was ready to share, he would. At least he’d said he didn’t want to be with her, that he wanted me. But something nagged at me, besides the family interference that had better stop.
I strolled the aisles of H-E-B, filling my basket, my mind going full tilt in all directions over this morning’s events. Then I caught myself giggling as the poor bag boy--the same one from my run-in with Rhea a few months ago--loaded bags into my car, while keeping a wary eye on me.
God, I hate small towns. But it looked like I wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
My poor car overflowing with groceries, I headed home. Time to invest in something larger and give up my sports car driving days. Babies and convertibles just didn’t mix. I added it to my mental to-do list.
I had an hour until Cassi and George arrived. I adored all Cassi’s kids but twelve-year-old George ranked right up there with Ty. George was Cassi’s dyslexic, far-too-serious, token middle child--since you didn’t really get a middle child with four. I made it a point to take him to do something frivolous a couple times a year just so he didn’t forget too quickly how to be a kid.
On the drive home my mind wandered back to The Bitch and how bad their marriage must have been. There was no doubt in my mind she’d deprived him sexually. What else had she deprived him of?
I had no idea what to do, and no one to ask. I’d had enough of familial interference. A rocky relationship can overcome just about anything if the sex blows your mind. And ours definitely qualified. Lucky Rule Number Thirteen: Good Sex is Important. And while we’re at it, size does matter. I grinned to myself. Her loss had definitely been my gain.
I needed that Thanksgiving update. In his parents' driveway, I slipped my clogs back on, tightened my jacket and climbed out. Hopefully Miss Maggie liked pumpkin cheesecake since I’d bought all the ingredients to make it.
“Well hi there, Miss Newlywed,” Delaney teased as I approached the porch where she sat reading a textbook.
“Aren’t you cold?” I asked, climbing the steps. The wind had died down, but it had to be at least forty out here.
“Nah. It helps me stay awake.” She sh
rugged and held up a thick textbook. The strong family resemblance left me wondering what mine and Ty’s baby would look like. She had a heavy spattering of freckles like Zack, where Ty’s were lighter and blended with his tan. Were those messy ringlets a Boudreaux trait or had they come from her own mother?
“Is your mom around?” I wanted to kick myself the minute the words left my mouth. “Oh God! I’m so sorry!”
“It’s alright.” But the light in her eyes was gone.
“No it’s not.” I swallowed my tears and took a deep breath. “Every time I turn around I want to cry,” I confessed with an embarrassed chuckle.
“You and Jessa both,” Maggie said, opening the screen door. “Practice for all your kids will put you through some day.”
Ouch! A direct hit. I shot Delaney another apologetic look, but she waved it off. Her kindness only made me feel worse.
Maggie held open the door. “Come on.”
I stepped inside, clamping a hand to my growling stomach. “Oh my goodness. I’m sorry! The smell of food does that to me.”
With an understanding pat on my shoulder, she led me to the kitchen.
“We’re having company. To paint the nursery, but thank you.”
“Have you picked a theme?” Maggie asked, waving to a chair across the table from her.
The same one I’d sat in the last time I’d been here. Delaney had followed us into the house, and sat beside me.
“Beatrix Potter.”
“So what are you painting?” Delaney asked.
“The nursery. We’re doing each wall a different color.”
“Jessa’s doing ponies and Zack painted a mural in Travis’ new room.” Maggie beamed at me from across the table.
Horses, how original.
“I stayed the night with him last night, and he was so cute!” Delaney laughed. “‘No Aunt Dee, I sleep alone. You stay down here.’ He barely let me tuck him in. You know Jessa made him change that rodeo mural in Trav’s room. Apparently he’d painted Travis on the back of a bull and she didn’t want him getting any ideas.”
I laughed, relaxing enough to lean back in my chair and cross my legs. “So she didn’t want him being a bull rider, huh?”
“Jessa comes from a rodeo family and her baby brother is a bull rider.” Delaney’s smile was absolutely conspiratorial. “He’s cute, too.”
“So did Jessa, like, barrel race or something?” Might as well find out what made my arch nemesis tick.
“No.” Delaney giggled. “She used to be a saddle bronc rider.”
“Oh my God,” I said with a laugh. “You’re kidding? That tiny thing?”
Delaney smirked a bit but Maggie looked positively grim.
“You’re not? I didn’t even know they let women do that.”
“Five time world champ.” Maggie’s smile could only be described as tense.
I sat and let that interesting tidbit soak in, then Delaney added fuel to the fire.
“Zack placed a personal ad ... on the Internet.”
I couldn’t hold back the snort of laughter. “I’m sorry,” I said between giggles, noting the pained expression on Maggie’s face. That settled me down. “I ... I’m very sorry, ma’am.”
“You can call me Maggie, if you’d like.”
In those seven little words. I realized just how hard the last year must have been on her.
“I thought you were a hometown girl?” Delaney teased.
“I do my best not to pay attention to what goes on around town.” I smiled at Maggie, hoping she’d understand what I was trying to say. I still didn’t have the full story on Delaney, and couldn’t imagine how hard a time they’d all had. I tried to picture sweet Mr. Boudreaux cheating on Maggie, but it seemed so out of character.
Then Zack’s modern-day mail-order bride. Ty’s divorce and me. Polly Blanchard’s Wild Child. Miss Pregnant Bad Girl. The matriarch of the Boudreaux clan had taken more than her fair share of hits lately. I sighed. “Thank you, and I’m sorry for laughing. I had no idea...” On that sobering note, I trudged forward. “Is it okay if I bake some desserts for Thanksgiving?”
“That would be wonderful, dear. What about your sister?”
“She’s not coming home.” I didn’t bother to elaborate. “I have to get home and get my spaghetti sauce on. Cassi’ll be here soon and I’ve got a car full of food.” Maggie made to stand, and I waved her off. “I can find my way out.”
On the front porch, I paused, the screen door still held open by my fingers. My car wasn’t where I left it.
Pregnancy was rotting my brain.
“Something wrong?” Delaney asked from behind me.
“I freaked for a minute when I saw my car was gone,” I laughed. “I suppose Ty came and got it for me.”
“I’ll walk you home.”
I had a feeling this was more than a walk home. We stepped off the porch and she offered me her arm. I took it and accepted her friendship. We slowly walked up the driveway to the gravel road that ran from the county highway all the way around to dead end at the huge barn beside Zack’s house.
“It’s difficult for her, you know,” Delaney began.
I could feel myself decompressing as we walked. Days of tension slowly drained as I soaked up the silence, occasionally perforated by something as mundane as a cow’s lowing or a horse’s whinny. “I do now. I honestly didn’t mean to laugh, but I had no clue about Zack and Jessa.”
“Maggie loves Jessa but she didn’t always. And Maggie’s always been somebody. A Kendall. A Boudreaux. Someone important, and that means something to her. It hasn’t been easy having me around.”
“Huh, my mom was a drunk.” We both laughed softly “Can I ask? What happened?” I watched my mules grow dustier and dustier with each step.
“About how I came to be? Daddy slept with my mom. Once.” She sighed heavily, a far-off look in her eyes. “She was a nobody and I’m an embarrassment. I never even met Dad until late last Spring when Mom got sick with leukemia and died.”
“I’m sorry.” I thought of my own mother’s death. How little I’d mourned her and how often I’d cursed her drunken irresponsibility. “You two were close.”
“The closest.” She sniffled, looking away, and I squeezed her arm. “I try not to talk about her since I know it bothers Maggie. Sometimes I think she wishes I didn’t exist.”
Delaney was just a baby, for Pete’s sake. “You can talk about her with me, and if there’s anything I can do to help school-wise, books, anything, you let me know.”
“Thanks. That’s really sweet of you.”
“School’s important.” I pulled her close and we kept walking. “Do you get angry? Over all of it?”
She nodded, her curls bobbing up and down vigorously.
“So do I, sometimes. When life gets really unfair and shit. You know life’s not fair but that doesn’t mean you have to like it.” I grinned and she grinned back, just a little.
At the end of the road, a door slammed, and Jessa waddled toward us. We kept on walking. She could just catch up. At this rate, I’d never get the bedroom painted.
Ty stood on our porch, leaning against one of the rails, his customary gentle smile on his face. “Why so glum, baby girl?”
Delaney shrugged, a watery smile on her face as we trudged up the steps. I nudged her toward Ty who hugged her.
From behind me a voice said, “What’d you do to her?”
“Lay off, Jessa!”
My head snapped up and I frowned at the sharp crack of Ty’s voice. I’d never heard him talk to anyone like that. He held out an arm, and the three of us had a group hug.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, honey.” I reached out and gave Delaney’s hand a squeeze.
“You didn’t. It just sometimes hits me.” She pushed herself off Ty’s chest and wiped her face.
“The holiday’s are gonna be tough, but we’ll muddle through, right?” Ty squeezed her, his face tender and my heart melted all over again. At the same time I fe
lt sad. The man he was with me was a shadow of the man he was with his family. Rhea, again.
Delaney nodded and looked at me. “You want some help? With the nursery?”
“Do I need to come back later?” Jessa asked from behind me.
I opened my mouth to respond--nicely, no less--but Ty beat me to the punch. “Can you behave?”
“Ty!” I scolded.
“I just came to apologize. I’m not staying.”
He opened his mouth, but I beat him this time. “Ty,” I warned. He clamped his lips shut and looked at me, his jaw twitching. He was angry, I realized in shock. I studied him, a bit awed then gave him a tiny smile. “Relax.” Turning to Jessa I added, “Come on in. I’ve got to get these groceries put up, and yes, Delaney, I’d love help painting.”
But Ty had already put most of them away. I turned the kettle on for some tea and we quickly finished up.
“Why don’t you take off. The game’ll be starting soon.”
“Are you sure?” He’d used that stern tone again and kept glancing at Jessa.
I smiled and tugged at the front of his shirt. He wanted to protect me. “I’m positive.”
“Alright then, if you’re positive,” he added.
“I am. Now go have fun with your brother. I’m making spaghetti so you can eat whenever you feel like it.” I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Now get, and let us talk.”
I fixed our tea and the smell of oranges and vanilla filled the little kitchen. Pot in one hand and a box of biscotti in the other, I headed for the table.
“Ty looks so happy.” Delaney smiled up at me.
“Thanks.” I set everything down and turned to the cabinet for cups. “Jessa, would you like a cup of herbal tea? It’s decaf.”
“Please.” She’d been awful quiet ever since Ty snapped at her. I also got the distinct feeling she was soaking in everything she saw. I returned with the cups, sugar and half and half.
“I’m sorry for being such a mistrustful bitch,” Jessa said softly, her eyes on her cup.
“I stepped in the middle of something, didn’t I?” Delaney accepted a cup and nibbled on a biscotti.
“Yeah. I opened my big mouth more than I should have this week. I really ... God I hate to cry!” Jessa caught a bad case of the sniffles in the middle of adding sugar to her tea.
Once In A Blue Moon Page 18