by Kim Law
“Uncle Nick!”
He and Harper both froze, his face three inches over her chest, and both of their eyes went as round as saucers. Then Harper shoved him out of the way and sat up, her hands going immediately to the front of her clothes.
“I didn’t find you at the house,” came the child’s voice again. And that’s when Nick saw her, just coming over the rise with her dad. Jenna and Gabe stopped at the top of the hill, both of them eyeing him and Harper curiously.
“Oh my God,” Harper moaned. “Is that your brother?”
“And my niece.”
“What did they see?”
He climbed to his feet. “I’m thinking nothing. Otherwise Gabe would have turned her away.” Nick stood directly behind Harper as she finished righting her clothes, and he thought every frigid, unsexy thought in the book to get his own situation back under control.
While Gabe remained at the top of the hill eyeing him.
“I’m going to murder him,” Nick muttered.
Harper finally stood, her legs seeming unstable, and Nick took her hand. Together they headed toward the others, and when they made it to the top, Gabe and Jenna both stared at her.
“Who are you?” Jenna asked.
“Jenna,” Nick began before casting a dry look toward his brother. “Gabe. This is my friend, Harper.”
“Harper,” Gabe said. His eyes narrowed in concentration as they took in both her face and her hair. “I think I remember you from school. Were you in Cord’s class?”
“Two years behind him.” She reached out and shook his hand. “You’re looking well.”
“You, too.” Gabe glanced at Nick. “I didn’t realize you two were friends.”
“I know her through her sister.”
Nick turned his attention to Jenna, and Harper followed suit. Jenna stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you. I like your name.”
Harper’s entire body relaxed. “And I like yours. I also love your doll.”
Jenna had a pink-clad baby under one arm, and she went into an instant litany of details for Harper as they moved toward the house: the doll’s name, why she had on the clothes she wore, what the she liked to do when she woke up every morning.
As they moved toward the house, the two females walked a few steps ahead, while Gabe hung back. “I’d heard a rumor about a woman with blue hair.” Gabe spoke low, but Harper still looked over her shoulder at them.
Nick ignored her. “You must have talked to Nate.”
“I haven’t talked to Nate in weeks. Haley told me.”
Jenna turned at the sound of her best friend’s name. “Is Haley back home?”
“Not yet, sweetheart,” Gabe answered. “I was just telling Uncle Nick that Haley told me all about Harper.”
“She did?” Harper questioned. She eyed Nick. “Why would Ben’s daughter be talking about me?”
“Because he’s been talking about you.” Gabe smiled unabashedly.
A question landed on Harper’s face, and Nick rolled his eyes, nudging them all to start moving again. “When I asked you to dinner at their house,” he explained. “I asked if I could bring someone, and Haley wanted to know if you were pretty.”
Jenna peered up at Harper. “You are pretty.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” She turned back to Nick, a half smirk on her face. “And you said?”
“I said that you were gorgeous.” His eyes told her a lot more about his personal thoughts than he’d ever say aloud in front of Gabe and Jenna. “And that you had blue hair. And that I loved it.” He shot an irritated look in his brother’s direction. “And then she apparently told everyone she knows, even though she promised to keep it a secret. Fat lot of good it does being her favorite uncle,” he grumbled.
“Well, there was your first mistake,” Gabe announced. “Never believe them when they say you’re their favorite uncle.”
“You’re my favorite uncle, Uncle Nick.”
Nick looked down into the wide, sincere smile of the child in front of him, whose hand was now tucked inside Harper’s. “Thank you, sweetheart. Do you mean that for good?”
She nodded. “Until Uncle Jaden comes home. Then he’ll be my favorite.”
Harper and Gabe laughed, while Jenna only continued to smile, unaware of the low blow she’d just dealt. Nick ruffled her hair, and the group entered the house through the back door. They stopped at the sound of footsteps overhead.
“Michelle came with us,” Gabe said, answering the unspoken question.
“Really?”
“Mama didn’t want to come,” Jenna explained. “She wanted to stay and play with her friends, but Daddy wouldn’t let her. He said she doesn’t have a job, so there was no reason for her not to come with us.”
Nick caught Harper’s uncomfortable shifting, her eyes darting away from the rest of them, then he studied his brother. If Jenna’s words were true, that was an interesting turn of events. In the past, Gabe would have let Michelle completely run the show. Meaning, Michelle would have stayed in California.
And suddenly she was there, right in front of them. Clothes as classy as ever, but several strands of her dark hair stuck out, making her seem unusually rumpled. She rarely looked anything but pristine.
“You lose your hair brush?” Nick asked.
Michelle shot him a laser-pointed glare. “You lose your manners?”
Nick grinned. “Never had any.”
She eyed him as if he were a bull’s turd dropped squarely on her designer shoes, before turning to Gabe. “Just where am I supposed to sleep? Your father and his wife took our bedroom.”
During the years Gabe had run the farm, their dad had moved into an apartment in town. At that point, Gabe and Michelle had taken over the master bedroom upstairs, while Dani had kept her room on the first floor. When everyone had moved out the year before and their Dad and Gloria had come home, their dad had rightly returned to the master. And, Nick had noticed, traces of Michelle’s style that had once permeated the room had since vanished.
Gabe pulled his keys from his pocket and leaned down to Jenna. “Will you get my bottle of water out of the car, sweetie? I forgot it.”
“Sure, Daddy.”
The second the door closed, Gabe faced Michelle. “There are four other rooms you can choose from. Pick one. It doesn’t even have to be the one I’m in. But no, you will not go to a hotel instead. And while I’m on the subject, you’ll also eat dinner with the family when we eat together.” Gabe’s eyes were as hard as his tone. “And you will not have a headache during any of those dinners.”
Hot anger colored Michelle’s face. “But there’s no family here.”
“Nick’s here.”
Nick once again grinned. He pointed to Harper. “Harper’s here, too.”
Harper shifted by his side.
“So she’s family now?” Michelle looked the other woman up and down in an obviously rude manner.
“She’s my guest.” Nick quit playing games. Not only had Gabe changed, but Michelle had become downright nasty. Before, she’d simply avoided the lot of them. Now, she seemed bitter and full of rage.
Probably without realizing it, Gabe had moved so that he stood shoulder to shoulder with Nick, making a united front, and Nick decided that he’d have to text Nate to let him know of this turn of events. Their oldest brother had finally grown a pair.
Jenna came back in, and as Michelle opened her mouth to toss out what was likely to be another barb, Gabe took her by the elbow and steered her upstairs. Jenna looked momentarily forlorn, before she set the bottle of water she’d retrieved on the kitchen table and headed to the office with her doll tucked securely under her arm.
Nick would go after her soon. Make sure she was okay.
“So . . .” Harper began. “I’m just going to”—she motioned with her thumb over her shoulder—“I’m sure I have clothes to wash . . . or something.” She gave a little shudder and mumbled, “Or anything.”
“Chicken,” Nick taunted.
> “Not chicken. Just smart. Sorry, but this isn’t my family. I don’t have to do this.”
“True.” He kissed her, keeping it light. “Can I see you tomorrow night?” He already knew she’d be working all day. She had a contract for more stunt work.
At the sound of raised voices, she looked up—then glanced down the hallway, toward the room Jenna had disappeared into. She chewed on the corner of her lip. “You’re going to check on her, right?”
“Absolutely. She’ll have me playing dolls with her in no time.”
“Good.” Harper turned back to Nick and stared him straight in the eye. “Want to come to my house tomorrow night? We can watch a movie.”
The offer had his heart thundering. “Yes. Can I bring dinner?”
“Please. Pizza. Sausage and pineapple.”
Nick made a face. “That sounds like a girly pizza.”
“You’re coming to my house. I get to choose the pizza.”
“Since I’m the one buying, seems I should get to choose.”
She stepped into him, and pressed one more kiss to his lips. And she didn’t keep hers as innocent as he had. “But you’re still going to bring me sausage and pineapple, right?” she wheedled when she pulled away.
“Right,” he whispered. Then he kissed her. For a very long time. And he fought hard to keep his thoughts from showing on his face. He liked this. He liked her. And he was beginning to suspect that he could do this for a good, long while. “Will you be careful tomorrow?” he asked.
“As careful as always.”
He held in the sigh. It would have to be enough.
Nick stood at his bedroom door, overnight bag in hand, and closed his eyes to take in the sounds coming from other parts of the house. Just two days ago he’d thought it too quiet there, yet he’d already changed his mind. He could hear Jenna in her room on the same level as him, her childlike voice talking softly to the dolls he’d spent several hours playing with the night before, while at the same time, her mother’s voice came from downstairs, complaining yet again.
Gabe and Michelle had only been there for one night, but Nick had already had enough. Maybe this had played into him staying away for so long, too. That had never occurred to him. But given that Gabe’s wife had never been one to keep her unhappiness to herself, and that the personality resemblance to their mother was more than uncomfortable, it made sense that them living here would have kept him away. It would have kept anyone away, even without the mother issues.
Jenna’s voice changed down the hall, it’s natural rhythm becoming tighter and higher pitched, and Nick headed in her direction.
He stopped at the open door to her room, taking in the bunk beds she and Dani had picked out when they’d all still lived at the house and the pink Cinderella décor that remained. This was one room Gloria hadn’t touched, and he could see why. It spoke of little girls.
“How are you doing, kiddo?”
Jenna’s wide blue eyes looked up from where she sat on the floor, a Barbie in each hand. The grown-up doll had been chastising the younger one for not making her bed the right way. Jenna’s immediate smile reached inside Nick’s chest. “I’m good, Uncle Nick.” Her gaze dropped to his bag. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I am.” He was heading to Harper’s house and had every finger crossed that she intended to let him spend the night. “But I could wait. I could stay and play with you for a while first.”
“That’s okay.” The words came out too stilted for her young age. “My Daddy will play with me after he finishes arguing with Mama. He always does.”
Nick’s heart broke. He couldn’t leave her like this. Nor could he let her stay in the house listening to the argument that continued to play out below. “Tell you what. How about you go outside with me? We’ll put my bag in the truck, then we’ll check on the cherry trees until your daddy comes for you.”
She jumped immediately to her feet. “Can I take my Barbie with me?”
“Absolutely.”
She took a minute to pick out just the right doll—then had to change its clothes before they went out—but the minute she was ready, she held her tiny hand up to his and gave him the same sweet smile she always wore, and Nick decided right then and there that he wanted to be a dad someday. In fact, he’d take this one if he could figure out how. Not to get her away from Gabe, but from her mother.
He wrapped his hand around hers, and together they headed for the stairs. But before they made it to the first floor, the bickering suddenly stopped and the back door slammed shut. Nick kept a firm grip on Jenna as her entire arm tensed, and kept marching them forward.
As they neared, Gabe eyed them from where he stood in the middle of the room, his breathing shallow, and his control still visibly shaken. “You two heading somewhere?” he asked.
“Just outside, Daddy. I’m helping Uncle Nick get to his car, and then we’re going to check on the cherry trees.”
Gabe glanced toward the front of the house at the sound of a vehicle flying down the driveway. “I’ll come out in a minute and find you.”
“Okay. And I’ll tell you if the trees are ready yet or not.”
That made Gabe chuckle lightly, the sound filled with both love and exhaustion. “That sounds good, baby.” He gave Jenna a quick kiss on the cheek and moved past them, probably to pace the length of the room, and Nick and his niece continued outside.
After he tossed his bag into the front seat of his truck, he turned back to his niece and, hands on hips, he stared down at her. “Your Daddy loves you lots. You know that, right?”
Her head bobbed up and down. “I know. He tells me every day.”
Her words comforted Nick. There’d been a time when Gabe had been almost as distant with his daughter as her mother. Not in the same way. And never because he didn’t care. He’d just had no idea what to do with her, and with Dani living here with them, she’d taken up the slack without realizing it. Jenna had never gone without love, but with a mother like Michelle, he knew how it could feel that way.
He stooped, intending to give her a hug, but stopped, still on his haunches, at the sight of a vehicle heading toward them. But it wasn’t Gabe’s SUV barreling up the drive.
A puff of dirt trailed along behind the black sedan, and Nick put his arm around Jenna, tugging her back against him as the vehicle didn’t seem to slow in speed. It careened forward until it was fifteen feet in front of them, and the second the swirling dust cleared, Nick broke into a grin.
“It’s Uncle Nate!” Jenna shouted.
Yes. It was most definitely Uncle Nate.
Nate pushed open the door and climbed from the seat. He wore red flannel pushed up to his elbows, jeans that were ragged at the hem and torn across one knee, and sported a full dark beard.
“You took leave,” Nick said.
Nate held his arms open as the five-year-old ran into them. “I took leave,” he confirmed. When he stood, he lifted Jenna onto his hip. “Checked your schedule and decided I’d come home and see you ride this weekend.” That weekend’s rodeo was in Augusta.
“You staying long?”
Nate shrugged. “I’ll play it by ear. Figured I’d see Gabe and Jenna for a few days, hang out until Dad gets back.”
“Better stay until Dani comes home.”
The back door opened before Nate confirmed one way or the other, and Gabe appeared.
“Look who came to see me, Daddy.”
Gabe looked as pleased as Nick at the sight of their brother. “I see that. Did you already ask if he plans to play Barbies with you?”
Wide blue eyes turned to Nate. “Will you?”
“That’s why I came home,” Nate responded, and Nick and Gabe both laughed. The four of them talked for several minutes, about the weekend’s rodeo and the fact that it was only a few hours away, and Jenna talked her Daddy into going without Nick having to corner him and do it for her.
“We’ll even stay overnight,” Gabe told her.
“In a hotel?”
“Augusta’s best.” Which wouldn’t hold a candle to anything she’d seen since moving to Los Angeles, but Nick knew it would be a great adventure for her nonetheless.
“Is Mama gonna come?” Jenna asked.
Her excitement noticeably waned, and as Gabe answered with something noncommittal, Nate’s gaze shot to Nick’s. Nick could hear the words behind the look. No one had expected Gabe’s wife to make the trip. And Nick hadn’t gotten around to texting his twin since they’d shown up.
Nick shrugged a silent Shocked the hell out of me, too, and at the sound of the house phone ringing, Gabe and Jenna headed back inside. Nick was left standing in the driveway, the passenger door of his truck still open, and his brother seeming pissed.
“She’s here, too?”
“I have no idea why,” Nick confirmed. “Been griping since the minute she walked in the door. I’m sure she won’t go to Augusta with them. I suspect Gabe will go as an escape more than anything.”
“It’s never going to get better for him,” Nate grunted out.
“Yet it’s not our call to make.”
Nate’s gaze landed on the bag sitting shotgun in the truck, and his brows went up. “You’re heading out?” Then a knowing look appeared on Nate’s face. “You’re still seeing her?”
“Maybe I’m just going to the gym,” Nick hedged. The bag was the right size for the gym.
“And maybe you’re full of shit.”
Nick’s cell went off, and he ignored his brother to read the text.
Bring beer.
He smiled and punched out a quick affirmative.
“Hmpf,” Nate muttered. “You actually like this one.”
Nick started to deny it. He and Nate didn’t “do” relationships. Yet, Harper had surpassed “just sex” whether he’d wanted to admit it or not. “I actually like this one,” he confessed. “I could cancel tonight, though.” He hadn’t seen Nate in months. And he would be seeing Harper again the next day.
“Don’t even think about it.” Nate eyed the back door where Gabe and Jenna had disappeared. “But there’s no way I’m staying here without you. The key to Dani’s apartment still in the house?”
Dani had rented a small upstairs apartment when she’d returned from New York, eventually buying the entire building. She’d lived in the apartment until she and Ben had married, and had plans to turn the first floor into an office front for her marketing business.