by Tina Leonard
She pursed her lips. “I always think of everything that’s happened as Jenkins versus Callahan. That’s all I meant.”
“Do you have a theory as to who shot me?” Judah was determined to know just how much Fiona was hiding.
“I have theories,” she said, “and they’re about as good as any that are floating around. I’ve had people ask me if you accidentally let your own gun go off.”
“Why would I be carrying at a wedding?”
“See how much sense it makes to listen to gossip?” She moved to inspect her rows of pickled vegetables, breaking eye contact. “I’ve heard that it was Bode. That it was a hunter. That it was Sidney.” She shrugged. “We’re probably never going to know, Judah.”
And yet he sensed she was holding back on him.
“And who else might it have been?”
She looked at him for a long time. “Put those boxes on the dining room table, please,” she said, and marched up the stairs, leaving him in the basement, knowing that something wasn’t adding up.
“TONIGHT’S FAMILY COUNCIL is necessary,” Fiona said, “because lately I’ve noticed a lack of faith among my nephews in the job I’ve been doing. Not that I blame you, because I alone got us in the mess we’re in.”
The six brothers and Burke watched Aunt Fiona as she struggled for words six hours after Judah had tried to talk to her about Bode down in the basement. Of course, he’d known that Bode was intent on stirring up trouble. Yet it was his aunt’s lack of heat in the denial that had sparked his curiosity. Now she was calling a family council, and his curiosity was even greater. They had these meetings at least once a month to discuss family and ranch business, but this one had been called out of schedule.
Now they sat in the wood-paneled library. Burke passed out square cut-crystal glasses of fine whiskey, and Judah drank his gratefully.
“First, Burke and I want to tell you that we’re married,” Fiona said, “just so you know that I’m walking the walk and talking the talk when I try to set you boys up for lifetimes of happiness with someone you love. I know you already know, have known for a while, but I’m making it official.”
The men applauded, congratulated Burke and Fiona, acted surprised, as if they hadn’t figured it out years ago.
“Now I’m here to answer any questions you might have,” Fiona said, “and I know that, based on a discussion I had with Judah this morning, that you have some. Anything we can clear up, Burke and I are here for you. Always.”
The brothers glanced at one another. This was new, Judah thought. This new transparent Fiona was an unexpected metamorphosis.
And yet she’d specifically told him never to talk about the cave’s existence. He wondered how far this transparency would go.
“All right, I’ll bite,” Judah said. “Where are our parents buried?”
The room went deathly silent. Fiona’s gaze leveled on him, seemingly dazed, and then, without any warning, she fainted.
“SHE SCARED THE LIVING daylights out of me,” Judah said as he lay in bed that night with Darla and their two angels. “I really thought I’d killed her.”
Darla giggled. “It’s not funny, I know, but it kind of is. You know Fiona is tough as cowhide. I don’t think you can hurt her, Judah. Don’t worry.”
He winced. “I do worry. She’s not so much cowhide as she once was. I feel terrible about the whole thing.” His brothers had piled on, telling him that Fiona’s offer had been more rhetorical and polite than anything, and was he trying to give her a stroke?
“Don’t worry. Fiona knows you love her.” Darla gave a contented sigh. “I love living in this bunkhouse,” she said, and Judah’s attention was totally caught.
“Are you being serious?”
She nodded. “Much more than I thought I would. It’s really ideal for a growing family. There’s so much storage space. And Mom and her friends came over today and set up the nursery just the way they had it at my house.” She smiled at Judah. “It’s perfect.”
“I’m glad.” His tone was gruffer than he meant it to be, but so much emotion was flooding over him that it practically choked him. “Thanks for being okay with this, Darla. I feel better with us being here.”
“Yeah, Sam told me.” Darla closed her eyes, enjoying the peace. “He said that ever since you got shot, you’ve been a bit of a wienie.”
Judah sighed. “He’s probably right.”
“And he said that this is your place. Your piece of the universe.” She rolled her head to look at him. “I didn’t really have a piece of the universe. I loved my house, but it was just a house.”
You’re my home, he thought, my whole life. My real universe.
“Want to honeymoon?” he asked, and Darla grinned at him.
“MAYBE THE BAHAMAS,” Darla told Jackie the next day when she came to see the new digs and bring a housewarming gift. “Judah says I can probably find a white skirt and he’ll wear a white shirt with palm trees on it, and we’ll have vows said under some kind of coconut tree or something.” Darla smiled. “He’s gone all romantic since we moved into the bunkhouse.”
“Rancho Diablo suits these men.” Jackie pulled out wedding dress vendor photos for two years out. “I figure we might as well start looking these over.”
“And I need to decide what to do with the magic wedding dress,” Darla said. “I suppose we should sell it. Sabrina says the magic has to keep moving.”
“Do you really believe all that stuff she talks about sometimes?”
“I don’t know,” Darla said, “but I do know that I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and if a dress can bring a little luck, I’m all for sharing it. I’m a romantic at heart.”
“So am I.” Jackie looked at the photos and drawings. “You’re still okay with the wedding dress shop, partner?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Darla was surprised by the question.
“I thought Judah didn’t want you to work.”
“Well, not while the babies are so tiny.” Darla stiffened. “I didn’t mind changing houses, but I would never give up my shop for a man. Not Judah or any other guy.”
“Just checking.”
Darla frowned, not sure where all this was going. “You’ve got triplets, so why wouldn’t I keep working, too?”
Jackie shrugged. “Pete doesn’t mind me working.”
Darla wondered if Judah cared if she worked. If he did, he was going to get a fat lip. “This dress shop was my brainchild, and I wouldn’t give it up for him. I don’t think he’d ask, either.”
Jackie nodded. “I was pretty certain you’d feel that way.”
Tickles of unease ran over Darla. “You’re not telling me everything. What happened?”
Jackie sighed. “Judah came to me and offered to buy out my half of the shop.”
“What?” Darla couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Why?”
“Well, Pete says Judah was planning on giving it to you as a wedding gift.”
Darla thought about that. “But I don’t want to own the whole store. I like the way we have things set up.” She frowned. “How dare he?”
“I think Judah has your best interests at heart, Darla,” Jackie said calmly. Her efforts to soothe her weren’t working, however, because Darla was practically quivering with anger.
“Why?” she asked her friend. “Why do you think that?”
Jackie’s face wore a how-do-I-get-myself-out-of-this expression. “Pete says if you own the whole store, you can sell it and have more time for the babies.”
Darla began to quiver again. “I haven’t even thought that far ahead. Why would Judah think he has to be involved in my business?”
“Because he’s a man, and because he’s a Callahan, and because he honestly thinks he’s doing the right thing.”
“By thinking for me?” Darla soothed Molly and Belle, who were beginning to get restless from the angry tone of their mother’s voice.
“He says he doesn’t want you too tired out.” Jackie nodded. “And you know, Da
rla, when we bought the shop, we were single women, and now we’re married with children, and your babies are very delicate—”
“Don’t give me that. You don’t want to sell your half,” Darla said. “I know you too well.”
“No, but if it’s best for you—”
“It’s not,” Darla said, her tone dark with finality. “Just forget my husband ever brought this up.”
“Oh, dear,” Jackie said. “I don’t want to cause trouble.”
“You didn’t. Judah did.”
And the moment her man got home, he was going to get his chauvinistic tendencies trimmed way back. There was a difference between diamond-and-sapphire bracelets and buying out one’s sister-in-law—a difference her handsome husband was about to learn.
“STORM BREWING TO THE east,” Rafe told Judah as they put away the last of the horses. “We’ll pull the barn doors shut when we go.”
“Okay.” Judah glanced over his shoulder at the bruised sky. Winds were swirling the clouds, sending them scudding across the dark heavens. “When’s Diane coming back?”
“She and Sidney return tonight. They’ll take the girls to their new house in Durant, where Sidney lives.” Rafe put his saddle away, and Judah did likewise. “I’m going to miss the heck out of the little girls.”
“Whoa,” Judah said, an arrow of sadness shooting through him. “I guess I should have expected that.” The girls had been going back and forth from Jackie to Fiona to Aberdeen while their mother was gone, with Aberdeen keeping them at night. Still, Judah was going to miss the sound of their young voices.
“It’s sad, but nothing stays the same. Eventually, all little birds fly away,” Rafe said.
“We didn’t.”
“Our jobs are here,” Rafe reminded him. “But you tried to fly. You just got your wings clipped.”
“I think of it more as if I got my wings retooled. They’re better now.” Judah was proud of how he was handling his new settled life. He couldn’t wait for the big All’s Clear from the doctor—he was going to make love to his wife until he gave out. “Life’s great. You should try marriage.”
“Not me,” Rafe said. “I don’t do relationships.”
“Neither did I,” Judah said, pretty cheerful about the new him.
“So, about the other night,” Rafe said. “What made you ask about our parents?”
He shrugged. “I’d like to know. Wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I’m a year older than you. I understand that there are some things we’ll never know. At twenty-nine, you decide it’s too late to know some things.”
“When you’re looking down the barrel at thirty, you mean?” Judah shook his head. “Not me. I’ll always want to know what happened. How did they die? Where were they?”
“They died,” Rafe said, “of some funky illness.”
“I thought it was a car accident.” Judah frowned. “You know, it’s not that hard to request a death certificate. Sam probably has done so a thousand times for clients.”
Rafe turned to look at him. “Do you think Fiona would have told us, if we really wanted to know?”
“You mean we don’t want to?”
Rafe shrugged. “Do you?”
“I—yeah.”
“Then order the certificate.” Rafe walked out of the barn into the storm, leaving Judah to wonder why he was the only one in the family who asked questions.
Finding out more about the cave was going to be first on his to-do list, Judah thought. After exiting the barn, he turned to slide the doors shut behind him, and suddenly felt a splitting pain in his skull, followed by blackness.
INSIDE THE KITCHEN, Fiona had the entire family scattered about, perching wherever they could find space. “This is our last meal as an extended family,” she said over the din, “because tomorrow night our three little ladies go to their new home in Durant. So I cooked their faborites—” she stressed the word, imitating the little girls’ pronunciation “—SpaghettiO’s. Real sauce and real pasta shaped like Os.” She kissed them on their heads. “And now, Judah will lead us in the blessing. Since he’s the most newly married, he may have the honor. Judah.”
No one said anything. Fiona glanced around the room. “Darla, where’s your husband?”
Darla shook her head. “I haven’t seen him all day. And if someone does, will you tell him I want to talk to him?”
Everyone hooted at that. Fiona shook her head. “Someone please call his cell phone and tell him it’s rude to be late to the little girls’ going-away party, especially when their aunty has made them a pink-and-white cake with kitties on it.”
“I will.” Jonas rang his brother’s phone, then said, “No answer. He’ll be along soon enough.”
Rafe said, “I left him in the barn, so maybe he went to do something else.”
Rain pelted the windows. Fiona glanced outside, shaking her head. “All right. I guess we’ll eat without him.” But she wasn’t happy about it.
They were all eating, deep into the spaghetti, when the kitchen door opened. Judah stumbled in, blood running down the side of his face.
Darla screamed and ran to her husband. She waved everyone away as he sank to the floor. “What did you do, Judah?” she asked, grabbing a wet paper towel from Jonas, who hovered near his brother, looking over the wound.
“You’ve got a mighty big goose egg back here, son,” Jonas said. “You’re going to need a few stitches. Maybe even a staple. Rafe, check the barn, since you were out there last. Sam, go with him. Look for…look for things,” he said, with a quick glance at Fiona.
Judah groaned and slumped toward his wife, and Darla knew at once that everything he’d been worried about had been real. There was trouble, and he didn’t want her to know, but was carrying the burden himself.
Her heart grew cold with fear.
“DON’T MOVE,” Darla said two hours later, after Jonas brought Judah home from the hospital with a bandage tightly wrapped around his head. “You stay right in that bed. And no TV until I can ascertain that you aren’t going to have latent swelling or something. You just sit there and don’t move.” She was being unreasonable, but she couldn’t help being afraid.
“Yes, Nurse,” he said. “But will you at least put on a crisp white nurse’s uniform with a real short skirt if I have to put up with your bossing me?”
“You’re trying to joke about what happened, but it’s not funny. First you get shot—”
“Just some kids playing with their daddy’s gun, for which they owe me three months’ hard labor on the ranch. And I intend to work them harder than my brothers and I ever worked, not to mention mucking. We’ve got sixteen horses, you know.”
She ignored his effort to make light of the situation. “But then you took a knock on the head, and teasing about it just isn’t funny right now.” She burst into tears.
“And I’m not laughing, either, my love.” He patted the bed. “Come over here and let me look down your blouse, and I’ll feel ever so much better. The medicine I need is a little naked wife.”
Tears streamed faster, so she grabbed a tissue. She hated crying, but couldn’t quit. “You scared me!”
“Darling, I scared myself.” Judah perked up. “Was it a two-by-four? It felt like a house. Tell me it was at least a really big board.”
She nodded. “Sam found it out by the barn. What were you doing, getting in the way of a thick, long piece of lumber?”
“I don’t know. Silly of me, wasn’t it?”
“Yes! Because you said that if we moved out here, we’d be safer, but clearly you’re not!” Darla shrank onto the bed and curled up next to her husband so she could indulge in a little crying on his shoulder. “And you tried to buy Jackie out of her half of the wedding shop, so I really wanted to be angry with you, but now I can’t because your head’s all bandaged up, so I’m really upset!”
He laughed and tugged her closer. “Now there’s the bright side.”
She sniffled. “It was horrible when you c
ame into the kitchen all Lon Chaneyish. Never do that again.” Darla hiccupped, which she hated to do. But once it got started it always took a while to stop, so she sat next to Judah and hiccupped, aware she sounded pitiful.
“Your daughters aren’t as needy as you are,” he teased, and Darla stated, “I know. They’re angels.”
“About the wedding dress shop,” Judah began, but she said, “I don’t want to fight right now.”
“We’re not going to fight. I was just trying to buy it for you to help Jackie out. Pete says she’s overwhelmed with the triplets right now.”
“Oh.” Darla thought about that for a few seconds. “Pete told Jackie you were a chauvinist pig who didn’t want his wife to work. Not in those words, of course. Those are my words.”
“I’ll put my brother in the corner with his dunce cap on later. You were really going to tell me off, weren’t you?” Judah asked, planting kisses against her hair, and Darla smiled through her tears.
“Yes.”
“But since I’m not a chauvinist pig, I get to see you naked for a reward?”
Darla kissed him on the forehead. “The jury’s still out on the pig part. Although you’re starting to look more like a prince all the time.” She got up to go check on the babies, who were nestled in their tiny bassinets.
“Hey,” Judah called after her, “what does a guy have to do to prove to his wife that he loves her even when she’s not properly dedicated to his nursing care?”
Darla popped her head back in the room. “What did you say?”
“I said…” Judah tried to remember what he’d said that had made Darla return so quickly “…uh, what do I have to do besides take a beating with a two-by-four to get some attention from my wife?”
“Go on,” Darla said.
Pain was throbbing at the base of his skull. His long hair had been shaved off in back for the stitches, and his pride was pretty bent about that. Still, Judah tried hard to think. “Oh,” he said with a grin, “you’re trying to get me tell you that I love you.”
“No, I’m not.” Darla shook her head. “I’m not trying to get you to do anything.”
“I love you, Darla,” he said. “I loved you long before you ever sneaked into my room and made wild love to me.”