“Boy, she is one smart cookie, isn’t she? Okay, put this orange one on first.” He handed her the biggest ring and she slipped it on the yellow earner and looked up.
Jim whispered, “Clap for her. Yeah, Katy! That’s good.”
Four adults clapped as if Katy had just scored the winning three-pointer in the last two seconds of a basketball game.
She smiled, showing off baby teeth and a deep dimple.
Beau’s heart swelled so big he thought his chest was going to explode in tiny pieces all over the den.
He kissed her on the forehead. “You’re daddy’s girl.”
“Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. My daddy. My daddy.” Katy chattered as she put the red ring on the holder.
“Did you hear that?” Beau said. “She said ‘My daddy.’ Did you hear her, Milli?”
Milli heard it loud and clear and her heavy heart fell past the floor and down into the dirt at least six feet. She saw the future in all its brilliant colors outlined in Beau’s smile and eyes, but she didn’t want to see it. She’d known today was coming way back when he told her to look in the back seat of the pickup and tell her what she saw, when he pitched a blue-blooded fit because she hadn’t combed the woods of Louisiana to tell him she was having his child. But knowing it was coming wasn’t facing it, and Katy had just brought reality to her on a silver platter. Katy had a father and she was recognizing him. She suddenly wanted to grab her child and run until she was out of breath.
“I heard her,” she finally said.
“Bedtime,” Milli said at eight thirty. “You want to help give her a bath?”
“You bet I do,” he said.
Well, bath time isn’t a whole lot different than splashing in the creek, and he might change his mind about his “pretty baby girl” by the time we got the job done.
He didn’t. His freshly ironed jeans were splotched with as much water as the faded ones were at the creek that morning. His shirt was wet from picking Katy out of the tub for Milli to wrap the towel around her as she wiggled and giggled.
“Guess all you women like to play in the water,” he said.
“That’s Torres blood,” Milli said smartly.
“Bet if I set her down she could jump on a horse before I could blink.”
“Yes, she could. And take another horse with her while she was at it. She’s going to be independent. Haven’t you heard her say, ‘ride, peas’? Those were her first words. My father put her on the horse with him before she cut her first teeth.”
“Just like her mother, and as beautiful, with nothing but a soft shimmer of water floating over her beautiful body.”
“And if you don’t hush, Granny will hear you.”
“You didn’t tell her? I told everyone at the Bar M. Buster thought it was a hoot that you got the best of me again. Told me I’d better stay away from creeks and your rifle.”
She felt the heat of a blush crawling up her neck. “You told Buster?”
He pointed his forefinger at her like the barrel of a pistol and fanned back his thumb like the hammer. “Bang. Gotcha.”
“Oh, hush. You wouldn’t tell or else you’d look silly.”
“Yep, but you’d look worse. Now let’s put our daughter to bed with her bottle. How old are they supposed to be when you take this thing away from them, anyway?”
“I don’t give a damn if I have to pack it in her lunch box when she goes to kindergarten. I don’t care if I have to go up to the school and wipe her fanny when she goes to the bathroom. I think everyone makes little kids grow up too fast anyway.”
“Amen,” he agreed. “Can I rock her to sleep? Or do you just put her in the bed when she doesn’t fall asleep in the truck?”
“Oh, no, I rock her every night and I’m sure she’d love that.” First Katy had called him daddy and now he was stepping into another place. It didn’t settle well with Milli, but Katy loved him. It was evident from that first time he’d picked her up that she knew him. How was that possible? Genes must be one helluva a lot stronger than anyone realized.
He hummed a lullaby while Milli straightened the bathroom, picking up toys, drying the floor where Katy had splattered water, and wishing with all her might that she could trust Beau. In time she could overcome her issue with trusting him with Katy - it was trusting him with her heart that was so difficult.
Beau tiptoed to the edge of the crib and lifted the baby over the edge.
“I told you, she’s a heavy sleeper like you,” Milli reminded him. “You don’t have to tiptoe or be quiet for that girl.”
“But I like to. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right for once. Like maybe I’m not so unlucky after all. Now let’s go see if the night air has got any cooler. Want some ice cream? We could still drive into Ardmore.”
Milli reached down and flipped the switch on a white plastic box.
“What’s that?” Beau asked.
“A monitor. I take this part with me downstairs, and I can hear her if she cries. Too late for ice cream. Wait for me on the porch swing and I’ll get us a glass of iced tea. Sugar and lemon?”
“Both. Promise you won’t ride away with my pickup while I’m sitting there waiting?”
“Promise.”
When she crossed the porch, he stood up, stopped the swing and held it for her, then sat down beside her. She handed him his tea and sipped her own as he started a gentle swinging motion. They sat in silence for a while, each deep in thought. She liked the way he abandoned all inhibitions and played with Katy as though he’d really been there every day from the time she was conceived. He liked the look in her eyes when she looked at the baby. That’s the way he wanted his wife to look at their children, and yet, even though he was helplessly in love with Milli, he wasn’t sure they’d ever make it as a couple. It would be like putting two bulls in a china shop and expecting the china to be unbroken at the end of a week.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he said.
She set her empty glass on the rough wood cart beside the swing. “Cost you a lot more than that.”
He brushed the back of his hand across her bare arm as he put his glass beside hers. The next second he gathered her into his arms and kissed her. No fanfare, no talk, no asking. Just a kiss that made both of them shudder like it always did.
“Could we try that one more time? I know one of these times it’s going to lack pizzazz,” she said.
“It’s always the same. Always has pizzazz. Just like the first one at the trailer that night.”
She pulled his mouth back down to hers for another kiss, amazed that even without the desire to get even with Matthew, without the liquor, the chemistry was still there. She tasted sweet lemon tea with just a faint tinge of the peppermint gum. Every bone in her body turned to jelly as she longed for more than just kisses and pressed herself against him so tightly she could hardly breathe. She’d be in the cold shower at least an hour after he left.
He slid his tongue over her bottom lip and savored bare lips with a touch of lemon on them. Desire surged through his body. He’d have to throw himself in a tub of ice cubes when he got home.
“I think we better stop that,” she pulled away.
He kept his arm around her. “Why? I thought we were doing it just right.”
“Too right. And besides, if you look to your right don’t turn your head, just your eyes - you’ll see Granny and Poppy peeking through the curtain.”
He tipped her chin back for another kiss.
She shook her head when the kiss ended. “I told you, we have an audience.”
He kissed her again. “Then let’s not disappoint them.”
She saw stars exploding like a Fourth of July fireworks show.
“Think we’ll survive this courtin’ process?” He finally hugged her close, pulling her head down to rest on his shoulder.
“Ain’t damn likely,” she said with a sigh.
SEVENTEEN
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MILLI AWOKE EARLY THE NEXT SATURDAY MORNING. It was barely dawn and for the first time in weeks, she could sleep late. With a moan, she slammed the pillow on top of her head and tried to will herself back to sleep, but it didn’t work. She’d been out past midnight with Beau the night before and there was nothing pressing on the ranch to make her rise before daybreak. Finally, in exasperation, she sat up and looked out the window. The moon was disappearing and the sun was still just a sliver of orange in the eastern sky. She picked up the monitor so she could hear Katy and carried it to the kitchen, where she made herself a cup of strong, black coffee and carried it out to the deck to watch the birth of a new day. When she should have seen the rounded end of a bright ball coming up on the horizon, dark clouds scuttled around, covering what few rays there were.
Jim walked slowly out onto the deck. He set his coffee cup on a round table and eased down into a padded chaise lounge. “Mornin’. Doin’ pretty good for an old man with a steel hip, now, ain’t I? Don’t tell Granny I left the walker in the living room. She’s scared I’ll fall.”
She handed him the mug when he was settled. “Poppy, you ain’t never going to be old.”
A low rumble heralded the approach of a storm.
“We might get that summer rain we’ve all been praying for so hard these past weeks,” she said.
Jim slapped the arm of the chair. “Well, damnation. Saddle up Wild Fire and run out to the north pasture before it hits and put that tractor in the barn. I told Slim there wasn’t no way in hell we’d get a rain this early and not to worry about leaving it out. Guess it wouldn’t hurt nothing for it to get wet, but I sure hate to see a rusty piece of machinery.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll have it in the barn and be back by the time Hilda has the sausage fried for breakfast. You listen to this monitor. When Katy wakes up, tell Granny to change her diaper and bring her downstairs. If I’m not back by breakfast, save me a biscuit. I’ll be waiting out the storm in the barn.”
“Take your slicker,” Jim said.
Milli was already on her way into the house and shoving her feet into dusty boots beside the back door. “Oh, I won’t need it. Just a summer rain and it’ll probably feel good, but if it’s lightning, I won’t bring Wild Fire back ‘til it finishes. Don’t want to take a chance of letting my favorite horse get hit.”
She stuffed the tail of her nightshirt with a picture of Taz on the front into faded jeans with holes in the knees.
“Don’t you take no chances, either, girl, and be damned sure you don’t rein up under a tree. That’s more dangerous than being right out in the lightning,” Jim reminded her. “Barn is good and dry so stay there if it’s a bad storm.”
She kissed him on the forehead. “Yessir, and don’t you try to get up out of that chair ‘til Granny helps you.” She jogged off toward the corrals.
******
Buster shook Beau awake that morning. “Wake up, son, there’s a storm brewing off in the southwest, and the television weather man says it’s comin’ this way at a fair speed. Your prize bull is out in the pasture where all those damned pecan trees are, and if it starts lightning it could kill him dead as a doorknob.”
Beau was up like a shot. “Three-wheeler got gas?”
“Yep,” Buster said. “Guess the fastest thing to do is to move that bull to the west pasture over there where the hay barn is and house him up ‘til this has blown over. Who’d ever thought we’d have a storm like this in July? Lord only knows how bad the gardens need it, and the pastures too, but that bull don’t need to be out in it.”
Beau dressed in the same clothes he’d dropped beside his bed the night before. “I should have already moved him. Thanks for waking me, Buster. Tell Rosa to save me some breakfast. I might have to ride out the storm in the barn with the bull.” He combed his unruly blond curls with his fingers.
He found the bull hugged up to a tall pecan tree and rumbling thunder told him the storm was approaching fast. It wasn’t an easy feat to convince him to abandon his security tree and be herded into an adjoining pasture with a nice big barn. With lots of creative cussing and just plain stubbornness, Beau finally got him inside the barn.
He could smell the rain, even if he didn’t feel a single drop falling yet. He jumped on his three-wheeler making plans to call Milli as soon as he was back at the ranch. Rain would put the hired hands in the bunkhouse for the day. He could listen to them moan about how much work they were missing, how hot and muggy the rain was going to make the rest of the week, and how boring it was to be locked up inside. Or he could spend the day with Katy. The latter sounded much, much better.
He had just topped a rise when he spotted Milli riding Wild Fire like the devil was chasing her. Her ponytail was straight out behind her, just like the horse’s tail. The way she sat a horse was as graceful as a ballet.
“Ballet, nothing. More like a sassy gypsy from a hellcat movie of some kind. Now just where do they think they’re headed in this kind of weather?” Beau wondered aloud. Then he saw the tractor parked in the field.
It might not be brand new, but Jim didn’t like his equipment left out in the rain. If it had a full tank of gas, it could be dangerous with lightning dancing around the country. He drove his three-wheeler back into the barn with the bull, slammed the door shut and bolted it with a cross bar, and then trotted over to the fence separating his land from the Lazy Z. He put the palm of his hand on the top of a post and hopped over the fence like a little boy playing leap frog with his father.
He got Milli’s attention about the time she reached the tractor and the first giant rain drops fell behind a blinding flash of lightning and the roar of thunder. “Get Wild Fire inside. I’ll drive the tractor in.”
She nodded and raced the horse to shelter. She dismounted and swung the huge doors open, led her horse to the back of the hay barn, and tethered her to a support pole. She stripped off the saddle and her blanket, and rubbed her wet hide down with hands full of hay. By the time she finished, Beau had the tractor inside and the doors closed. A crash of thunder and a sudden downpour of rain sounded like bullets on the barn’s tin roof. Milli shuddered even though she wasn’t cold.
“Thanks. Guess we almost got caught,” she said.
He shook his hair like a wet puppy and water sprayed in all directions. “Glad Buster heard an early report. I had my bull out in a pasture with a whole grove of pecan trees. When I went to check on him, the sorry sucker had hugged right up to one like it was his brother. Seen a lot of stupid cows die because they tried to hide under a tree.”
She nodded. “We’ve lost a few, even though trees are few and far between out in my part of the world. They don’t have much sense when it comes to finding a safe spot. Well, guess we might as well sit a spell. It don’t look like it’s going to wear itself out for a little while.”
Beau grinned and started toward her with a mischievous look in his eye.
She backed up until she felt the ladder leading to the loft. “Don’t look at me like that. It reminds me of the night in the trailer, and you’re not drunk and I’m not getting over a broken engagement. So just sit down over there on that bale of hay and don’t get closer than six feet to me. I don’t trust me any more than I trust you.”
He took two long strides and pinned her against the ladder. “I’m stone cold sober. But if I had one right now I’d drink a double just to loosen up a little.” He inhaled deeply, taking in the clean smell of hay, rain, and the faint smell of Milli’s perfume leftover from the night before.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. If he wanted to play games she’d sure give him a run for his money or hormones or whatever he was willing to put on the betting table. “Feeling a little tight, are you?”
“You’d never know just how tight. I’d be willing to fall off my wagon if you’d fall off yours.”
“But I just don’t like the stuff. I’ve never been blind drunk,” she argued as he brushed kisses across her eyes, her cheeks,
her ears and neck. “And I’ve never been on a wagon.”
“Haven’t you? I quit liquor and you quit men. You get off yours and I might get off mine for a shot of Jack Daniels every once in a while.”
He picked her up and carried her to a mound of hay at the far side of the barn, kissing her all the way. He grabbed a horse blanket from a nail on a support beam and threw it on the hay, then laid her down gently. “Feeling like somebody upstairs must think you and I belong together. What’s the odds of both of us getting cooped up in this barn all by ourselves? Not very good. But here we are.”
“Not really. Wild Fire is here.”
“Wild Fire don’t tell secrets,” he whispered. “She didn’t tell about the day at the creek, did she? I bet she won’t even watch us. We’d be boring to her.”
“Ain’t damn likely.” She used his favorite phrase between fast heartbeats and quick short gasps as she tried to control her fevered body.
He covered her mouth with another kiss and both of them forgot about the horse on the other side of the barn. The rain played music on the tin roof, but they couldn’t hear the thunder for the loud beating of their hearts. He removed her T-shirt as gently as if it were the silkiest-lingerie. She moaned and for a fleeting moment knew she should put a stop to what they were about to do. She still hadn’t gotten any form of birth control, but right that moment nothing seemed to matter except satisfying that dull, aching need filling her whole being.
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