• • •
A few minutes later, Luz wandered into the living room to find Aaron studying the oil painting across from the couch, rubbing his hand idly over his chin. Chloe kneeled on the couch, her hands resting against the back of the cushions, looking at the picture too.
“Impressed?” she asked them.
“Didn’t notice it last night,” Aaron admitted. “But it’s okay, if western art’s your thing.”
“But why did he paint the horses’ butts?” Chloe asked plaintively. “You hardly see their heads, and they look all droopy.”
“The emperor’s not wearing any clothes,” Luz whispered.
“Emperor? It’s just horses!”
“Just a saying, Chloe. A lot of people say they like paintings when they don’t.”
Chloe nodded sagely. “They lie?”
“Pretty much,” Luz agreed, unable to argue with her logic.
Aaron peered at the signature in the corner. “Who’s Ross Thurmond? For some reason the name sounds familiar.”
“Ross is a local character. A handyman and an occasional artist. He gave that painting to my Mom—I don’t know—six years ago? Like a Horse Saddled.”
“Oh—that’s what he calls it?” Aaron glanced at her, and then back at the nondescript horses in western gear tethered to a rail outside an old barn. The horses stood hipshot, weight more on one hind leg than the other, heads drooping near the ground.
“Yeah. But my mom preferred to call it Patience.”
“I don’t like it,” Chloe declared, sliding down the backrest of the couch and managing a turn all at once. “The horses aren’t pretty like yours are, Luz.” She scrambled off the cushions and grabbed her father’s hand impatiently. “Can we go now, Dad? You promised!”
“Luz might want breakfast—”
“I’m good. Besides, we have to feed the menagerie.”
“Menagerie means lots of animals that aren’t horses,” Chloe explained and waved a hand at Luz. “She said.”
Aaron nodded somberly. “I’ll remember that. Let’s go see those secret animals Luz hides from everyone.”
Chloe giggled. “She didn’t hide them from everyone, silly! You’re the only one who didn’t know about them.”
Luz smiled, but fought off her own laughter. From Aaron’s sudden change of expression, he didn’t enjoy having secrets kept from him.
“There really aren’t many,” Luz said. “Just a few derelicts nobody wanted that my mom took care of before—” She bit off the rest, but Chloe slanted her a look.
“Before she died, right?”
Luz kicked herself mentally. The kid was way too perceptive. She glanced at Aaron. He looked pained more than annoyed, but didn’t throw any lifeline out.
So Luz just nodded. “Yes.”
Surprisingly, Chloe dropped the subject. Luz unlatched the sliding door and pushed it back on its track. Candy brayed a welcome. The guinea fowl flapped around, and one of the barn cats came up, eager for breakfast.
“I don’t see the kitten,” Chloe complained.
“Maybe if you called her…” Aaron suggested, watching Candy warily as he butted Chloe, who laughed and scratched his ears.
“She’ll show up. Come help me with the food.” Luz led them back to the feed room and filled one bucket with corn and another with oats. She handed the bucket with corn to Aaron. “You and Chloe can feed the guinea hens. Candy goes a little crazy when he’s hungry.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So…like…how does one feed a guinea hen, exactly?
“You are so not a farm boy,” Luz chided, and he grinned.
“Tell me about it!”
They walked back to deliver the feed to a much-changed menagerie. Candy brayed and stomped, the cats meowed plaintively—they had all appeared, including the kitten who somehow managed to be louder and more plaintive than any of them.
And the guinea hens! Their non-stop, shrill clucking and fussing had Chloe covering her ears and ducking her head dramatically.
Candy got his bucket of oats a few feet away from the other animals. Luz nodded at the corn. “Just take a handful,” she counseled, “and—”
“Holy shit, it bit me!” Aaron yelped, half throwing the bucket of grain halfway across the corridor.
“Let it go,” Luz finished.
“It bit me!”
“You big baby. Birds don’t bite, they peck. Let’s see your stupid hand—”
“Luz, you said a bad word,” Chloe whispered, appalled, apparently forgetting her own frequent use of the word, and the fact that her father had used real profanity just seconds ago.
Right. That brainwashing we perform on all kids. Be nice. Never say a hurtful word. Stupid is a god-awful word. Memories of a classroom full of first graders shocked that a classic children’s book actually used profanity like “stupid” flashed back. She didn’t mean to, but she laughed—at Chloe’s horrified expression and Aaron’s petulant one as he lifted his hand for her inspection.
And reflexively, unthinkingly, Luz lifted his palm and brushed a kiss on the invisible beak wound.
Chloe gaped. Aaron tensed. Stilled. The mesmerizing green eyes sparked.
And the first grade teacher erasing a boo-boo fled, leaving a woman punched in the gut by a desire she hadn’t felt in so long. Lower, maybe, than the gut, but punched, definitely. She dropped his hand and took a step back. He did, too.
“Well,” he said.
The word reverberated deep inside her, added to the impact of that lower punch, and melted her legs. Just a little.
So she managed an indifferent shrug. “All better now,” she told Chloe with a wink. “And look—the guinea hens are eating even after he threw the feed bucket at them!”
Chloe laughed. “Hey, he threw me over Rumbles, and now I can ride. And he threw the bucket at the guinea chickens and they get to eat it all at once. Maybe throwing is like good luck when he does it!”
Aaron groaned, but Luz laughed too, and went over to retrieve the bucket.
“You, young lady,” Aaron told his daughter, “are way too rude and way too smart.”
“Oh, well.” She shrugged at her dad. “Can I ride now?”
“Ask Luz.”
“Sure.” She hooked her arm through the pail, and caught Chloe’s hand. Better not to even look back at the little girl’s dad. Not until she forgot how lust felt. And remembered betrayal, and how illicit relationships destroyed lives. The man had a woman. She wouldn’t be part of that picture.
Chapter Seven
Saturdays were good days, Aaron thought a few hours later, as he watched his daughter jog around the arena, radiant. He’d wanted to see her like this, and her happiness eased the pain that cut into his soul at odd moments. He glanced at Luz, who was trotting around the ring leading a little boy on a spotted pony. Pompom, had she said?
That kid’s face was alight, too, and his parents were sitting on chairs under the barn awning, sporting expressions that probably echoed his own. Kids should always be this happy. Maybe there was something to that old saw about small town, country living.
He massaged his neck and realized that he had burned in addition to stiffening up from leaning on the fence too long.
Stella would have loved seeing Chloe like this, although she would have called out to her girl to boot the pony into a flat-out run, dismissing any dangers and sucking in the excitement. She’d lived that way, and it had cost her—her parents had disowned her when she’d gone into law enforcement, not long after he’d married her. They’d told her never to go home, and had never even acknowledged Chloe’s birth. He didn’t think they disapproved of him, though, so much as Stella.
His hero wife. The dregs were so bitter. For a moment his fingers dug into the fence rail, and then he forced himself to relax. He turned his gaze to Luz, still trotting that splashy pony around. He wasn’t sure why she’d told him she’d never let Chloe ride such a pitiful excuse for a Shetland pony. It looked fine to him. Looked really good, trotti
ng around the ring…Realization hit him that Luz wouldn’t appreciate that last assessment, because it had nothing to do with ponies.
And what kind of a bastard was he, to think about how Luz looked from behind when his daughter was right there beside her, restored to innocent childhood? But the brief touch of her lips on his palm—that shouldn’t have made him think of slow dancing. Long walks. Wild nights…
“Luz, we’ve gone over our time,” the other dad called, and Luz immediately slowed the pony and led her over to the gate.
“Thanks, Miss Wilkinson,” the little boy chimed, and Luz helped him down and hugged him briefly.
“You’re welcome, Timothy.”
“I should pay for an extra hour,” said Timothy’s mother, opening her purse.
“Don’t worry about it,” Luz protested. “I charge by approximate times, and Pompom needed exercise.”
Moments later, she waved a final time at the departing car and walked over to the fence. Aaron knew she’d felt something she hadn’t expected when she’d put her lips to his palm so impulsively. She’d probably heard his own overreaction in his one word response.
But nothing showed in her face.
He pushed off the fence, straightening and stretching. The mid-day sun, already hot, hammered into him like a welcome massage. He could get used to being a country boy. Get used to the farm life. Except…he glanced around. Except this wasn’t a farm. And it wasn’t a ranch. He wasn’t sure what Luz would call it, but it wasn’t exactly what he’d planned on when a chance encounter with a nice clerk at the gas station had him settling in for a while. He smiled at the memory, thinking of how meticulously he used to plan his life. Then he’d pulled into Rose Creek and stopped at the gas station for a bathroom break and snacks for Chloe. He supposed he’d looked like hell, because the elderly woman behind the counter clucked over him.
“Where y’all going?” she’d asked as she bagged the purchases.
He’d shrugged. “No idea,” he admitted. “Just going.” He’d forced a smile.
“Well, maybe you need to stop and figger it out,” she’d advised. “Look, my husband and I have a house we need to rent. Take a few days, get that girl settled in somewhere ’til you make up your mind.” She’d handed him the bag, and as they’d walked toward the door, he heard her murmur, “God bless them, they just look lost.”
He had looked down at Chloe, squeezed her hand gently, and turned back to the counter. He’d planned on the anonymity of a big city like Dallas, but he’d walked back to the counter and given the woman a weary smile.
“Could you tell me about the house?”
She had, and they had become Rose Creek’s newest residents just after Christmas.
He glanced at Luz and wondered if something more than an old lady’s kindness had stopped his headlong flight away from everything. Something buzzed near his ear, and he swatted the air, feeling a tinge of soreness from his sunburned neck and realized if he’d been out in the sun too long, so had his girl.
“Chloe, time to give that poor old pony a break,” he called.
She frowned, but obediently slowed Rumbles, then rode her over to the fence and slid off.
“Aren’t you supposed to use the thingee there on the side and step off?” he teased.
She sniffed. “It’s a stirrup, Daddy. And I’m too tall to do it that way. Sliding is faster.”
“So is falling, but it doesn’t look as good in a show ring,” Luz interjected, grinning at Chloe. “Hungry yet?”
Chloe gave a half shake of her head, then turned it into a nod. “Sort of. But I don’t want to stop for lunch. Then it’ll only be a little while ’til I have to go home.”
“Maybe you should just move in with Luz,” Aaron suggested.
Chloe’s face lit up. “Really? You’d let me?” she squealed. “You, too?”
He shook his head. “Not room for me on that short little couch of hers. You’ll have to come by yourself.”
Chloe shrugged, but her eyes twinkled, and she clearly knew he was kidding. “What do you think, Miss Luz? Ready to have your own little girl?”
To his amazement, all signs of laughter fled, and Luz stiffened and visibly drew back.
“No!” she said. “No, I am not ready to have a daughter!” She snatched Rumbles’ reins and turned toward the barn. “I’ll cool her. You two go to the house and wash up, if you want to.”
• • •
Idiot! Ass! Nothing she could call herself seemed hard enough. She stumbled slightly over a rock she knew had always been there, seeing only Aaron’s shock and Chloe’s hurt. How could she have gone off on an innocent joke, a game Aaron and Chloe were playing, thinking she’d join in?
They didn’t, couldn’t understand. Lily’s little face rose in her mind, brown eyes serious, or smiling. Tiny hands clutching. First steps, temper tantrums, and huge hugs. Dainty kisses. They didn’t know she’d had a daughter—and that child, another woman’s, like Chloe—had been torn from her life. Or that Lily had been at the center of the storm that had driven Luz from Atlanta, and brought her here, killing her father with the worry and hastening her mother’s death.
She liked Chloe. A lot. She also liked the troubled man who doted on her. Too much. But if she ever had a child…she blinked back tears. A child was unlikely, but if she did have one it would be the product of her own body. Someone she could never lose.
She tied Rumbles to a ring and pulled off her saddle. The pony was hardy and not too hot, so she did something she rarely did and just left her there, standing patiently, while she jogged to the house. She couldn’t explain about Lily, but she could say something. She could let Chloe know it wasn’t about her.
She was relieved to see the SUV was still there as she reached the house, but perplexed to see a second, beat up vehicle parked next to it. She recognized the pickup—Ross Thurmond—but couldn’t imagine why he was here. She hadn’t ordered anything or asked for a delivery—surely he didn’t just want to visit?
She walked through the kitchen, surprised that the pit bull stood by the door to the living room, sticking her head into the room and growling—something she hadn’t done before.
And when Luz walked through the door, the dog pressed itself into her leg and moved with her, either seeking to give or get protection.
Ross was sitting in her father’s old recliner, and Aaron was on the couch. Chloe, like the dog, seemed apprehensive; she was pressed into her father’s side for shelter, too.
“Ross, what a surprise!” No lie there, and she didn’t have to face Aaron and Chloe quite as quickly with a guest sitting there in his dust-cloaked, drab clothes.
“Have you met Aaron Estes and his daughter Chloe?” she asked, walking over as he stood and offering him her hand.
With the unnamed dog still shadowing her and rumbling low and deep in her throat, Luz fought an urge to stiffen and push away when he unexpectedly leaned over and brushed her cheek. The greeting was pretty much universal here in Rose Creek, but she barely knew Ross, and for some reason, the polite peck made her skin prickle.
She stepped away, quickly. “Sit down, Ross, please. What can I do for you? Some water or tea?”
“Nah. Just came by to say hello. Used to visit your mom all the time, and felt bad I hadn’t been very neighborly since…” His eyes fell on his painting, and he hesitated. “Since you’ve been out here all alone.”
“Thanks, but I’m not all alone,” Luz assured him. “And you’ve been a godsend when I haven’t been able to pick up feed—”
“Not much to brag about, though. This Aaron fellow did introduce himself,” Ross confirmed. “Brings his daughter here to ride?”
From a distance, Luz suddenly remembered a snatch of a conversation she’d overheard when she’d visited, not long after her move to Atlanta. More an argument, really, between two people who never disagreed over anything.
“Bastard’s a pervert,” her father had grumbled.
“Joe Allen Wilkinson, Jr.!” Her moth
er’s sweet voice had blistered her father. “Don’t you use that language to me or I’ll whip your ass! The man’s an artist without a family and nobody to take him to heart. There’s nothing perverted about him!”
“He’s sweet on you, a married woman!”
Her mother’s indignation turned into a peal of laughter. “You’re jealous! I swear, Joe! When would another man look at me? And if I thought he was, wouldn’t I tell him just where to go?”
Lord, I miss them both. She hesitated, not wanting to confirm or deny Ross’s statement.
“We’re in and out,” Aaron said from the couch, then stood and gave Ross a wink and a smile.
Ross flushed, apparently taking Aaron’s words as a declaration of interest.
“Well, that’s fine, then,” he said after a moment. “Being alone ain’t what the good Lord intended for no one.” He plucked a cap from the armchair and pulled it over his uncombed gray hair. “Told your mom that,” he added. “After your dad passed. She mightn’t have pined so much…”
Luz swallowed. “Mom wasn’t alone, Ross. I moved back from Atlanta right away.” And mind your own business. She didn’t say it, though, convincing herself she shouldn’t overreact.
“Oh, I know.” Ross cast her a smile, but under the bill of the cap, his eyes seemed dark and hard. “But you were a married woman, Luz. You know how it is. Women are meant to have men, and men—well, we men need our women. Can’t be news to a big city woman like you.”
Aaron moved over to Luz and draped an arm casually around her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Ross. You’re right.” He smiled down at her. “And we’re working on it. In fact, Chloe and I thought we’d take you to the diner tonight, Luz. May be a little too late to go to San Antonio like we’d talked about, though.”
She knew what he was doing, and playing along wasn’t too hard given the weird turn this encounter with Ross Thurmond had taken. “Sure.” She gave him a quick smile and looked across at Ross.
“Was there anything else?”
“No. Just wanted to say hello.” He nodded at her and held out his hand, forcing Aaron to remove his arm from her shoulder. “Nice meeting you, Aaron. You, too, Chloe.” He nodded again and walked out, and Luz and the dog both sagged with relief.
Wildflower Redemption Page 6