"I'm glad!" she snorted. "You ought to hurt for all the trouble you've caused.
"You can tell everyone we're not engaged if you want to," he said, more seriously.
"And make an even bigger fool out of myself?" Tracey stood up suddenly. "No, thank you."
"I have a feeling you're beginning to like the idea," Austin said slyly.
"Oh, hush," she snorted, and headed for the kitchen to make supper.
When she had the soup dished into bowls and the grilled cheese sandwiches almost ready to take out of the electric skillet, she called the children in for supper. She found a tray on the countertop beside the sink and put Austin's supper on it, a depressingly bland arrangement of soup, a few saltine crackers, apple juice and a container of pre-made orange jello she'd picked up at the store.
"Yummy. I love hospital food," he said disconsolately. "Can I have a grilled cheese sandwich instead?"
"Oh, no. I'd like a full night's sleep tonight. I don't want to have to lug your sick carcass back to the hospital because you didn't follow the doctor's orders," she told him. "You kids got your hands washed?" She called down the hall to the bathroom where she heard the water running.
They ran out together, the way they went everywhere, holding hands most of the time. The day would come, Tracey knew, when they would fight, but for now she was thankful they were friends as well as siblings.
"I'm starved to death," Emily declared.
"Me, too," Jackson said. "Can we go back outside and play after we eat? What's for dessert? Can daddy push us on the swings when he's all better? Hey, Mom, did you remember that I'm goin' to be six tomorrow?"
"And me, too," Emily bit into a dill pickle. "I'll be six in two weeks, right, daddy?"
"That's right," Austin said from the sofa. "Do you think we might have a little bit of the evening news while we eat this wonderful noodle soup?" he asked.
Tracey picked up the remote control and pushed a button, then fiddled with the channels until she found the news for him. She fixed a bowl of soup for herself and sat down to the table with the children. "So what happened at school today?" she asked.
Jackson piped up. "A little kid out on the playground had red spots all over him. He said he just had chicken pops but he wasn't outrageous anymore. What's chicken pops, anyway?"
"Good Lord!" Tracey looked closely at Jackson. His skin was fair and clear as always, but she knew it wouldn't stay that way for long.
"Chicken pox is a disease, Jackson. You get spots all over, but you don't feel too bad. Once one kid gets them, they all get them."
"That's just great," Austin groaned. "Emily will probably be broken out on her birthday."
Jackson and Emily looked scared to death.
"Will they be well by fall break?" Austin asked worriedly.
"Hush!" she snapped. "We don't know if they're going to come down with them or not. That little boy said he wasn't outrageous—I mean contagious—anymore, didn't he, Jackson?"
Jackson nodded.
"You mean we're going to look like that little kid?" Emily's eyes were big and tears hung on her thick lashes. "Trace, I'm scared. I don't want to look like that."
"It's all right." She reassured Emily with a hug. "If you get chicken pox we'll give you lots of baths in a special soap and the red spots will all go away in a few days."
"Yeah, and we'll drape the mirrors to preserve her vanity and our sanity," Austin called from the living room.
"Will I get them, too?" Jackson asked.
"Maybe not. No sense worrying about something that hasn't happened yet," Tracey said firmly.
"Mom, what are we goin' to do for my birthday? Daddy can't go to the movies or out to eat with us," Jackson said.
"Maybe we'll have some pizza delivered right here to our door, and I'll make you a chocolate cake for after that, and then we'll rent a movie and watch it here." She made plans as fast as she could think. She certainly hadn't planned on celebrating Jackson's birthday in Austin's apartment.
"Will there be presents?" he asked.
"Of course," Austin called from the living room. "Granny and Grandpa Miller are coming with your uncles and aunts and cousins from Tom Bean. This apartment will be so full we won't have room to put another person and they're all bringing you presents."
"Are you making this up?" Tracey looked at him in astonishment.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I invited them all this morning when they visited at the hospital. I told them about Jackson's birthday and they planned the rest. We can have pizza before they get here since they won't come 'til after supper, and Mom said she'd bring cupcakes for everyone." His eyes twinkled when he smiled at her. "She said to call her tomorrow and let her know if you need anything else."
"You're getting closer and closer to being turned into buzzard bait," she whispered back.
Chapter Eleven
Tracey was in bed, but wide awake. Tomorrow she would meet Austin's whole family and they'd see Jackson for the first time. She probably wouldn't have time to dress after school, so she needed to choose an outfit that would go all day and still look good by evening. She decided on the dark green, floral rayon skirt with the cotton sweater to match . . . and the loden green flats so her feet wouldn't hurt. She needed to call the pizzeria before she left school so they'd have the pizza there promptly at four-thirty. Jackson could blow out the six candles on his cake and then after Austin's nine million relatives sang "Happy Birthday . . ."
The phone rang.
"Hello," she said cautiously.
"Tracey." It was her father's unmistakable voice. "Will Jackson be up and around at seven-thirty tomorrow morning? I'd like to be the first to tell him Happy Birthday. Then I can tell him about his new pony," Jack said.
"That will be just fine. It's been quite a week so far," she said. "After Austin's appendectomy we found out that both kids have been exposed to chicken pox. I called Molly and she said she'd come and baby-sit for me as soon as they broke out. She seems to think it's a foregone conclusion."
"I know. I talked to Molly earlier this evening, and I talked to Austin just a minute ago," Jack said.
"Oh, hush!" she snorted at him. "So I'm the last one on your list to call tonight," she said huffily.
"I always save the best 'til last," he chuckled. "Go to sleep. I'll call Jackson in the morning at seven-thirty, and Tracey, don't worry about his family. They'll love you just like I do." He hung up before she could say awww.
She counted sheep. She counted dollar bills. She even visualized Mel Gibson in tight blue jeans, but somehow he kept turning into Austin. Finally, she went to sleep sometime after midnight, only to dream of dozens of children, all covered with chicken pox.
She woke Jackson and Emily up at seven o'clock, checked their little faces and hands for chicken pox blisters, saw none, fixed their breakfast and helped them get dressed. Jackson's grandfather called promptly at seven-thirty and Jackson whooped and hollered when he told him about his new pony. Then when he told him that the pony was going to live at Maybelle's stable, he let out another squeal. He could hardly wait to get off the phone so he could share the good news with Emily, who danced around the room with him.
She carried a plate of pancakes and bacon down the stairs to Austin's apartment where he was sitting at the table reading the morning paper. The children beat her to the door and both of them told him about the pony at the same time.
"Smells good." Austin laid the paper aside, went to the cabinet and got the syrup for his pancakes.
"You're up and about today," she commented. "Feeling better?'
"Yep. I'd just as soon be back teaching but Doc said not until next Monday. So I'll be good, but I don't have to like it," he told her. "Could you bring home some of my Comp II papers tonight? I could catch up on all my grading tomorrow and the next day." He poured syrup all over the top layer of pancakes and dug in. "Mmm. Real good. Want to make this a lifetime arrangement?"
"What exactly are you talking about?"
&nbs
p; "You cook, I eat. 'Til death do us part. Say yes."
"Nothing doing. The most I'll give you is an absolute maybe."
"I'm holding you to that."
Austin winked at Jackson and kept eating.
Tracey rushed through another day, accepted compliments on her imaginary engagement with good manners, muttering thanks and telling everyone a date had not been set and, no, she didn't have an engagement ring yet. She collected enough student papers from his office to keep him busy for a week, and ordered pizza to be delivered to the apartment.
She was waiting at the door of the kindergarten when the bell rang and the children poured out like red ants out of a hill on a sunny day, all of them talking at once when they caught sight of their parents. Jackson and Emily spotted her at once.
Austin was sitting in his brown velvet recliner watching television when the back door flew open and his family barged through it. He'd been counting the minutes until they would come home, thinking about how empty his life had been until a few weeks ago, and hoping with all his heart Tracey would marry him, whether during fall break, Thanksgiving break or even Christmas. Every time he looked at her his arms wanted to hold her, his mind undressed her and took her to bed, and his heart ached because she still hadn't said yes.
He corralled her before she could sidestep him, and pulled her, giggling, onto his lap.
"Come here, woman, and kiss me. I thought you'd never come home."
His lips brushed hers briefly, until they turned around to see both kids watching them with big eyes. Austin had a sudden flash of inspiration.
"Guess what? I hid a dollar bill for each of you in Emily's bedroom—"
"A whole dollar? For each of us?" the children asked in unison.
"Yup." He winked at Tracey.
Emily and Jackson disappeared into her bedroom in a flash, and Tracey laughed out loud. She nestled deeper into Austin's embrace, settling on his muscular thighs and avoiding his still-sore abdomen.
"Now kiss me for real," Austin growled in her ear. He tipped her head back and tasted her lips, deepening the kiss when she responded eagerly, stopping only to take a breath.
"Mm-hm," he murmured. "That's the right way to treat a sick man."
Tracy giggled softly and shifted on his lap, a change in position that caused him visible pain. She patted his cheek and eased up out of the recliner, despite his protests.
"That's enough excitement for today. Remember, I'm in charge."
Austin looked positively sulky for a second, until the kids burst out of the bedroom, waving their dollar bills triumphantly.
"We found them!"
"Austin! You planted those bills in advance just so you could—" She stopped herself. The children were listening, after all. She swatted him playfully.
"Ow! You're a hard woman, Tracey Walker," he teased.
"That's right. And I'm putting you back to work." Tracey went to retrieve the briefcase of student papers she'd brought home for him.
She opened it and brought it to his chair.
"There. Enough work to give you a headache and make you pull your hair out. I try to teach these smart alecks to write a simple sentence before I send them on to you, but some jobs are impossible before you start them!" She cocked her head toward the door when she heard a car door slam and waited. "I do believe I hear the pizza man." The doorbell rang a minute later.
"Pizza, pizza!" Both kids parked in their chairs at the kitchen table. "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me," Jackson sing songed, and they all joined in.
They had finished supper and cleaned up just as a caravan of pickup trucks arrived in the courtyard.
"They're here, Jackson!" Emily screamed from the bedroom when she looked out the window and saw her family getting out of five vehicles. "Let's go outside and you can see all of them."
Tracey didn't know whether to stand beside Austin as he greeted his family or to try to melt into the background while they all tried to meet Jackson at the same time. Austin solved the dilemma by pulling her close to his side, keeping his arm around her, while his folks poured in the door, all chatting away and putting trays of cupcakes, chips and dip, punch, pies and finger foods on the table. Finally Austin picked up a spoon and tapped the edge of the wooden table until he had everyone's attention.
"Folks, I want all of you to meet my Trace," he said and drew her even closer to his side. "You've heard me talk about her for years and I'm happier than I can say to finally introduce her to you. This is our son, Jackson, right here." He reached over and touched Jackson on the shoulder.
"Now if you'll line up by families we'll make them acquainted with you. He started with his parents, Andrew and Ellie Miller, and Tracey was dizzy by the time he'd finished the introductions.
She'd counted four brothers in all and as many sisters-in-law, and then there were the children. With everyone laughing and talking at once, she knew it'd be a while—a long while—until she got everyone's names straight. Tracey just hoped and prayed that they'd like her anyway.
Chapter Twelve
Austin felt a slight twinge of pain in his side when he stepped up into the cab of his black pickup truck, but it felt so good to be dressed and out of the apartment, wearing his best jeans, his boots and a starched white western shirt, that he overlooked the pain. If snuggling Tracey on his lap and kissing her every chance he got was what was causing these little aches, then they were well worth it.
Emily and Jackson were in the back seat, buckled in, their faces alive with excitement. Tracey was in the front seat beside him, looking anxious. She wore a white embroidered shirt and tight jeans. If those weren't brand new navy-blue Roper boots she was wearing he'd eat his belt buckle for lunch and have a handful of grasshoppers for dessert.
They hadn't even gotten out of Durant before Jackson asked, "How much farther is it, Daddy?"
"Oh, we should be there in a couple of days, partner, if the dust storms don't stop this covered wagon. We might have to ration the water supply if that happens. I know it'd be hard on you and Emily not to have a bath for two days and not to see your horses for that long, but a covered wagon can only go so fast," Austin drawled in a monotone.
"Oh, Daddy, you're silly," Jackson said. Then he and Emily started a conversation about their horses and how they were going to pretend they were riding across the prairie to somewhere way off. Maybe even as far off as the galaxy. They debated whether or not the Star Wars crew kept horses in their spaceships.
Austin reached across the wide bench seat with his right hand and massaged Tracey's shoulder. "You're kinda quiet today."
She didn't reply.
"Are you worried about seeing my folks again?"
"No. Yes. I don't think so." She looked out the side window.
"Which one is it?"
She wouldn't answer. Austin tried a different approach. "You're looking mighty fine today." His voice dropped to a whisper. "The only way you look finer is when you're wearin' nothing at all."
"You're trying to distract me. It's not going to work. But thanks for trying." She smiled a little. "How far is it to Tom Bean? I have to go."
"Oh, you mean go. Sorry. There's only one outhouse between here and there. Last time I checked it didn't have any toilet paper in it, but there was a 1901 Sears catalog hanging on a wire on the inside wall. I think the rattlesnake who lives in there has probably holed up for the winter in the rocks behind it, so you don't have to worry about him. Unless he's in a bad mood," Austin drawled. "He sometimes is this time of year. People from Oklahoma keep poking him. He hates people from Oklahoma."
Tracey smiled wider. "And are there movie Indians behind the rocks that don't have rattlesnakes?"
"Yep. And they all have arrows with my name written on them. You're not in civilization anymore, Trace. We're headed for deepest, darkest Texas. Abandon hope."
Tracey hadn't known Austin could be so wonderfully silly.
"And why are the Indians after you?" She played along, enjoying the game.<
br />
"Because I've got you by my side. Your red hair makes you a goddess in movie-Indian culture, which doesn't have anything to do with real Indians and never did. If they shoot me, they can kidnap you and take you to their camp where you will bring them good luck forever and ever. Their corn will grow twenty feet tall and their young'uns at least six feet tall if they can keep a goddess like you happy." He finished at last. "God knows it ain't easy keeping goddesses happy," he added dryly, and looked over at her. Tracey was having a fit of the giggles, much to Austin's satisfaction. He had succeeded in distracting her after all.
"Daddy, I'm thirsty. How much farther is it?" Emily piped up from the backseat.
"Just a few more miles, baby. We can stop and get something cold to drink, but no cookies or ice cream. Granny's been cookin' for three days and if we don't do justice to her food she'll think we don't love her." He looked back in the rear-view mirror at Emily while he talked. "Okay?"
"Okay, Daddy."
Tracey looked back too, and watched the two of them nestle together, as happy a pair as she'd ever seen. The sight warmed her heart and she turned back to smile at Austin.
"Happy?"
"Yes. Very."
"Daddy, you still haven't told me what 'gaged means," Emily said. "My teacher said you were 'gaged to Tracey. Grandpa told Uncle Sam he got a new thirty gauge shotgun. Are you buying Tracey a shotgun?"
"No, Emily," he said patiently.
Tracey gave him a smug look. He wouldn't dare tell the children they were getting married. Not without discussing it with her, and to be truthful she still didn't know where she stood on the issue. They hadn't had enough time to themselves without two children underfoot to know if they could rebuild a love that had once been as fierce and strong as a mile-wide twister.
He looked back in the mirror at his daughter, and avoided Tracey's eyes. "Engaged means that two people are planning to get married."
"Wow! That's awesome," Jackson shouted. "Does that mean you two are getting married? We can all live in the same apartment!"
Small Town Romance Collection: Four Complete Romances & A New Novella Page 27