Oh my.
Callen in a sleek black suit was even hotter than cowboy Callen. Long, lean and hers—for today, anyway. Smiling that smile that stirred sins and heat, he walked toward her.
“Hey,” Shelby greeted him.
“Hey, yourself. Interesting dress,” he said when he skimmed his gaze down her body.
“They’re special,” Lucy repeated, with more humor in her voice this time. Humor aside, it was a reminder for Shelby that this silent lust exchange between Callen and her wasn’t private.
“Special indeed,” Callen agreed. “They’ve got Rosy written all over them.”
“More like Billy glued all over them,” Lucy muttered, making Shelby beam. It probably wasn’t good to encourage smart-assery or sarcasm, but it was healthier than the gloom that Lucy had carried around with her.
“Rosy’s responsible for this, too.” Callen lifted his tie. Yes, it was the shape of an armadillo. “She got them for all the groomsmen.”
Better than the zombie bunnies or the generously endowed rearing stallions, so that was something at least.
“You’ve been crying,” Callen said to Lucy. His forehead bunched up, and he led them to a small alcove and out of the earshot of the other guests.
“Some,” Lucy admitted. “The good kind of crying. Not Shelby, though.” There was some admiration in Lucy’s voice.
“Another of my vast skills,” Shelby joked. “Just call me ‘dry-eyed McCall.’”
Lucy eked out a smile, took in a deep breath and looked at Callen. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for Mateo and me. Thank you for working to find the Millhouses.”
Callen winced a little, and Shelby knew why. Yes, Callen had found them by pressing his social-worker friend, but he was no doubt blaming himself for Avis showing up and maybe ruining things.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” Callen told Lucy.
Yep, Shelby had been right. He was blaming himself.
Lucy shrugged. “It’s okay.” She paused, chewed for a moment on her bottom lip. “I feel a little bad, though, about Mr. Buck. I mean, if Mateo and I do leave, he’ll be okay, right? I mean, he won’t be mad at us or anything, will he?”
“No, he won’t be mad,” Callen assured her just as Shelby said, “Of course not.” Shelby was the one who continued. “It’s the way things work. Kids come to my dad until they find a home, and then they go and live happily ever after.”
That last part wasn’t exactly an exaggeration. Shelby had seen proof of that as she’d walked down the hall. Saw proof of it, too, with Kace and Nico. Callen and Judd, though, were still works in progress.
“I’ll make sure everything is in place,” Lucy volunteered. “Maybe I can put napkin capes on the bunnies at the tables where children will be sitting.”
“Great idea,” Shelby assured her.
The girl hurried away so fast that Shelby knew Lucy must have realized that she wanted a moment alone with Callen. Actually, what she wanted to do was kiss him, and she sneaked in a quick one. And again had to push away any thoughts about their kissing days being numbered.
Since she wanted something to lighten her own thoughts and cool down the heat simmering between them, Shelby took out the nunchucks from her dress pocket and wrapped them over her wrist. “I wanted to wear them to show you how much I appreciate the gift you gave me.”
Callen smiled, put his mouth against her ear and flicked his tongue over her lobe. “I appreciated the one you gave me.”
Good grief. That didn’t cool down anything. Just the opposite. If Callen was soon going into the retreat mode because he’d be leaving, he was showing no signs of it now.
Shelby decided just to go with it. If it lasted only minutes more, then she’d take each and every one of those minutes. Except she didn’t even get a single minute before there was an interruption.
“Callen, Shelby,” someone called out.
Shelby didn’t mind this particular interruption when Sarah, Dan and Katie Millhouse came walking into the room. Shelby was relieved. Even after partially witnessing the incident with Avis, they’d come. That was a good sign. And while it wasn’t a bad sign, both Sarah and Katie were wearing red dresses spotted with the armadillo patches.
“Miss Rosy asked us to be bridesmaids,” Katie happily announced. “This is just the coolest dress.”
So, a good sign after all, and even Sarah didn’t seem to mind. Shelby couldn’t say the same for Dan, though. Definitely no “coolest” vibe from him as he looked down at his tie.
Shelby reached out to shake their hands and only then remembered she still had the nunchucks wrapped around her wrists. Sarah’s eyes widened. “You’re not expecting trouble today, are you?”
“No,” Shelby quickly assured her. “They’re good-luck charms.” She got them off fast and shoved them back in the pocket of her bridesmaid dress.
Great. Now both Dan and Sarah had uncertain looks on their faces.
Callen didn’t groan, but Shelby suspected that was what he wanted to do. “I’m glad you came,” Callen told the Millhouses. “Maybe we can talk—”
But that was all Callen managed to say before Havana came rushing in. “Rosy’s in the limo. Let’s not get into how we managed that,” she added. “Anyway, she said she wanted us to start as soon as she got to Buck’s room.”
Which wouldn’t be long at all. Only minutes.
“I’ve already started lining up the bridesmaids.” Havana shifted her attention to Callen. “Judd’s doing the same for the groomsmen, but I think you should get involved in that.”
“Definitely,” Callen grumbled as he headed out. Wise call since Judd lacked the finesse and patience for a chore like that.
Shelby motioned for Lucy, and she waited until the girl joined them before she went back to help. Havana had it under control, though. The bridesmaids were now lined up on one side, the groomsmen on the other.
The line seemed to go on for infinity, coiling not just in the hall but also in and out of the rooms. Despite all the excited chatter, Judd and Havana were in the middle giving orders. As expected, Judd’s orders were a little less friendly than Havana’s, so Callen stepped in to take over a duty that Judd seemed very happy to relinquish. He moved to the back of the line. So did Shelby, but first she made sure Lucy was with Sarah and Katie. Thanks to Callen, Mateo was positioned with Dan.
Chatter continued. So did the attempts to adhere the cloth Billys onto some of the dresses. There were tie adjustments and talk about the “old days” when they’d lived at the ranch. Shelby smiled when she realized that Nico was filming everything with camera feed that was no doubt being sent directly to Rosy and Buck. Rosy would be dabbing at tears, and her dad would be the happiest man on earth.
The music started in the party room. “The Wedding March.” An unexpected touch of tradition, but it only lasted until about half of them were in the party room, and then it switched to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” Like the flower explosion, that felt right, too.
It took a little shifting and letting people go ahead of her, but Shelby managed to be next to Callen as they reached the party room door, and they walked in together. Like the kisses, she wanted to hang on to moments next to him, as well. Even if they were surrounded by one hundred and fifty friends and family.
Everyone cheered when Rosy and Buck appeared on the large screen on the wall. As expected, Rosy was smiling and, yes—still crying. Her dad even had some color in his cheeks, though Shelby had to admit that might be a reflection from all that pink.
Reverend Jimmy Joe Daughtry stepped onto the small stage in the corner of the room. As he held his Bible, he positioned himself facing the screen.
“Dearly Beloved,” he said.
With just those two words, Shelby burst into the loudest ever of happy tears.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SHELBY’S
CRYING SPELL hadn’t surprised Callen as much as it obviously had her. He’d seen her emotions so close to the surface, and it didn’t matter that they were mostly good emotions. It had still brought on the tears.
Then it had set off half the room crying along with her.
The inn had run out of tissues, but as soon as the vows had been spoken, the staff had brought in toilet paper, setting several rolls on each of the tables.
“Sorry,” Shelby shouted to a crying woman who wandered past them with a roll of toilet paper in her hand. If she hadn’t shouted, she wouldn’t have been heard. Apparently, the DJ thought he needed to crank up the volume to make sure Rosy and Buck heard it all the way from the hospital.
“What?” the woman said.
“Sorry,” Shelby repeated in an even-louder shout.
It took Callen a moment to realize that the shouter was Lupe Sanchez, who had taught him a thing or two in the hayloft when he’d been fifteen. Lupe gave him a flirty smile, no doubt remembering that thing or two, but she also must have recalled that she had eye makeup running down her face. Since she obviously didn’t want that to mar his memory of her, she scurried away.
“Sorry,” Shelby continued to shout as the criers came by to add their well wishes.
Callen thought they were gaining some positive ground, though, because those just doing the well-wishing seemed now to outnumber the criers. The staff might appreciate that, too, to cut down on the run on toilet paper.
“Sorry,” Shelby said again, but this time Callen realized the apology was aimed at him. She blew her nose, and with her eyes red and puffy, it was not her best look. But he had a nice image of just how amazing her face, and body, could be.
“No apology needed,” he assured her, and because he thought she could use it, Callen pulled her into his arms for a dance. There still wasn’t a lot of room on the floor, but other dancers were weaving around the tables and in any space available.
“I made a fool out of myself,” she went on.
“Nope, you didn’t. Everybody knows how much you love Buck and Rosy, so it was expected. Not the nunchucks, though. You did raise some eyebrows when you took them out.”
“I thought I had a Kleenex in my pocket.” She frowned. “They made a lot of noise when I dropped them on the floor.”
“Very few people noticed.”
Not a lie, either. That was about the time the crying began, and that sound had muffled the falling nunchucks. What hadn’t been muffled was when they landed on Havana’s toes, but she had assured Shelby that nothing was broken and that she was certain the limp would soon go away.
Shelby looked up at him. Finally, no more tears, and some of the redness was easing up. “You’re being nice to me,” she shouted.
Since that sounded like some kind of accusation, Callen tried to follow her thought process. Nope, couldn’t follow it. “Shouldn’t I be nice?”
“No. You’re doing it because you’re leaving soon, and you’re feeling sorry for me. Maybe a little guilty.”
Callen wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but it turned out he didn’t get a chance to say anything because Shelby continued.
“I don’t want you to talk about leaving,” she went on. “Yes, I know it’s going to happen in the next day or two, but I don’t want you to mention it. I want these...moments.”
Callen was touched, and, yes, he felt guilty. But he nodded.
“Good. One more thing,” she continued. “I want you to spend the night with me at my place.” Her gaze drifted toward Lupe. “Unless you have other plans.”
“No other plans,” he assured her. Especially not plans with Lupe. “I want to go see Buck and Rosy soon, but that shouldn’t take long.”
“I want to see them, too, but I’ll wait until the reception starts to wind down. Whenever that’ll be,” she added. The crowd was still pretty thick. “I should be home around six or so.”
He nearly said “then it’s a date,” but that made it seem too casual. It wasn’t. Because it very well could be the last night they spent together.
No, it wouldn’t be.
What they had was still going strong, and he could make trips down from Dallas. She could come up and see him. But it might be the last night he spent at her place before he left town.
“Uh-oh,” she grumbled. “I know that expression. You’re feeling guilty.”
Yeah, he was.
“Well, don’t,” Shelby snapped as if he’d verified it aloud. “No strings, remember? If you need to leave, just do it. But you’d darn sure better look in the mirror. Not the one I gave you, either, but the real one in your truck.”
Since that gave him another hit of guilt and because she managed a smile, Callen asked, “Will you be naked?”
Her smile widened. “You’ll have to look and see.”
Okay. That made him feel better, and he might have gone in for a kiss if someone hadn’t tapped him on his shoulder. He turned to see the Millhouses squeezed into the dancing crowd.
“You think we can find a quiet place to talk?” Dan yelled.
Instant concern, and Callen hoped like the devil that this wasn’t going to turn into a “sorry, but we can’t take the kids” talk. He glanced around and saw no space that could remotely qualify as quiet or less crowded.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Callen suggested. He wound them through the other guests, and when they reached the stairs, he saw Mateo and Lucy.
“We asked them to wait here while we found you,” Sarah explained. She, too, shouted, of course, which didn’t make her sound very friendly.
Callen studied the kids’ faces, but their expressions were as somber as he suspected his was. “You two okay?” Callen asked.
He only got nods from them.
“Oh, I can’t keep it secret any longer,” Sarah blurted out. “We want Lucy and Mateo. We want them to be part of our family.” She threw her arms around the kids, then reached out and pulled Dan and Katie into the group hug.
Since Lucy and Mateo weren’t exactly jumping for joy, Callen motioned for all of them to follow him up the stairs. It would have been a lot easier for them to do that if Sarah hadn’t tried to hold on to the huggees. She had to finally give up just so they could fit up the narrow staircase.
The noise faded with each step, and while it wasn’t exactly silent in his office, they would be able to drop the shouts. Not the concern, though. Yes, it was still there in spades.
“What’s wrong?” Callen came out and asked them.
Lucy and Mateo exchanged glances. “We both want to go live with Mr. Dan and Miss Sarah. And with Katie,” Mateo said. “But it feels a little bad, too. Because Mr. Buck and Miss Rosy have been so nice to us. You’ve been nice to us,” Mateo added in a mumble.
“We don’t want you to think we didn’t like you,” Lucy went on. She looked at Shelby. “Because we do. And we’ll miss you.”
Callen released the breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. Hearing them say that was a gift better than gold, and it sent a blanket of warmth all through him. “I’ll miss you, too. But hey, you’ll always be one of Buck’s kids, and since Shelby and me are, too, it’ll always make us your big brother and sister.”
Lucy nodded, and Mateo gave a sound of approval just seconds later.
That brought on relieved breaths from Sarah and Dan. But Katie looked confused. “So, does this mean Lucy and Mateo will be my big brother and sister, too?”
Callen looked to the kids for that answer and again they nodded.
Sarah squealed with delight and dragged them into her arms again. Dan and Katie joined in. Callen would have been content to stand back and watch this happy scene, but Sarah’s arm snaked out, and he was pulled into the huddle. Mateo did the same for Shelby.
It was a perfect moment, and Callen didn’t think it spoiled the mood too much when someone bumped i
nto the singing Christmas tree, and they hugged to “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
* * *
CALLEN BRUSHED AWAY the fake snow that was flurrying outside the hospital. Someone had turned off the machine, but there was enough of the white stuff on the ground and caught in the winter wind that it was going to take one hell of a cleanup.
When he stepped inside the hospital, he noticed that everyone in the entry and waiting room looked as if they had severe cases of dandruff, but there was also a giddy happiness, too. Maybe a fake white Christmas created from a machine called Sno Blow was just as appealing as the real deal.
He wasn’t especially surprised to see Judd sitting in the waiting room. Callen had seen him leave earlier, and word had got back that Judd was on his way to see Buck. Callen suspected Kace and Nico would come, too. But for now, Judd was texting or doing something on his phone.
“You’ve already seen him?” Callen asked, tipping his head in the direction of Buck’s room.
Judd nodded. “I didn’t stay long.”
With the vague description, it was hard to tell if that was Judd’s way of telling him to get lost or if he had something on his mind. Callen decided to test and see if it was the latter. He went closer and sank down in the chair next to him.
“You’ll have to give me some clues here,” Callen said. “I can’t tell if the short visit was because Buck isn’t doing well or—”
“Buck’s fine. Never seen him happier.”
All right. That eased some of the tightness in his chest. “So?” He didn’t expect Judd to spill anything and was surprised when he did.
“Avis Odell is in jail,” Judd threw out there. “Last night, I went to San Antonio and baited him into a fight in a bar.”
“Jesus.” Callen added a groan to that. “What the hell were you thinking?”
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