Uh-oh. Orthodontist alert.
“Right now,” Jack said, his tone casual. But Kat was attuned enough to him to know he was thinking about something else. “It’s the only bike there. The saddlebag is snapped shut. Help yourself…Uh, sorry. If that’s okay with your mother, I mean.”
Kat looked at Char trying to convey a leave-us-for-a-second message. “This is Sentinel Pass. Nobody’s gonna steal him or any…Oh, okay. Come on, Taggart. Let’s go find your brother. He’ll want his present, too.”
“Thanks. And, Tag, come right back to thank Jack. Jordie, too.”
“I know, Mom.”
Kat watched her eldest son walk away. He was getting so grown up. A week with Jenna had changed him. He seemed more confident and aware of the world around him. He wasn’t her little boy anymore.
“He needs to see an orthodontist,” Jack said without preamble. “Bring him to Denver and I’ll do X rays and an initial evaluation for free.”
For free. He knew her well.
Instead of being offended, as some people might have been, she was thrilled by the offer. But she had to turn him down. Again. Just as she had his proposal.
“I’m all set to play an extra in the filming this week. It’s good money. With the you-know-what coming and my student-teaching this fall, I need to sock away every penny.”
He didn’t comment right away, then he said, “He could ride back with me, and you and Jordie could come pick him up on the weekend.”
Kat blinked at the outrageous suggestion, momentarily forgetting that Jack didn’t even like kids. What kind of mother would send her child off with a stranger? Well, he wasn’t a stranger to her, but he was to Tag. She could picture Pete’s reaction. “We have orthodontists here, Jack. There’s a very reputable group that worked on all my halfsiblings. I’m the only kid in the family who missed out. My dad takes all the credit, of course.”
Her flippant response apparently fell on deaf ears. “I’ll do everything pro bono. Start to finish. By the time he’s in high school, he’ll have a smile as perfect as Cooper Lindstrom’s.”
“Why would you offer to do that? Is it because—”
He cut her off. “I was that kid once, Kat. My dad wasn’t an advocate of orthodontia unless there were bite issues, and my mother controlled the purse strings. I didn’t get my teeth fixed until I was in college. Kids can be brutal. It messes with your head in a way parents don’t understand. Let me do this for Tag.”
“But you don’t even like him.”
His scowl was so pissed off—so Mad Jack—she let out a little yip. “If that’s what you think, then this morning was an unforgivable indulgence on your part.”
She was immediately ashamed. He was right. He might have gotten off on the wrong foot with the boys, but he was a good man. She’d trust him with her life. And Tag’s teeth. But the decision didn’t rest with her alone.
“Tag’s dad would never go for this. He probably wouldn’t even let me take Tag to Denver for an initial consultation. You should have heard the unflattering things he had to say about you after you dropped me off that morning. You’re an outsider.”
“And I’m obviously interested in you.”
She nodded. “That’s part of it. Pete’s like my dad in that way. He doesn’t want me, but he can’t stand the idea of someone else in my life, either.”
Jack shrugged his broad, solidly made shoulders. “Tough. He doesn’t have a say in that. I am involved and I’m not going to disappear.” He started to say something else, but instead, pulled out his phone. “What’s his number?”
Kat’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
He waited.
She put her hand flat to her belly. This time was bound to come eventually, she thought. She rattled off Pete’s cell number and waited to hear what was said, but Jack stepped away to conduct his conversation in private.
Peeved, she started after him, but was stopped when a small body barreled into her. “Mommy, Mommy, look what Tag stole from that man’s motorcycle.”
Jordie pointed at Jack, who was looking their way with a grim expression on his face.
Kat sank down and pulled her younger son into her arms. “It was a gift from Jack. Your brother doesn’t steal.”
“Told ya,” Tag said, sticking out his tongue. He and Char walked up. Tag was already wearing his new shirt, although Kat could see the purple neckline of his other shirt under it.
She helped Jordie try on his new shirt, too. The size was right, age-wise, but it was still a little big. He ran his fingers across the logo, which showed a skull where the headlamp should have been on a stylized motorcycle emerging from a blazing inferno. “Wow,” he uttered, looking at Char to get her reaction.
“Cool,” she said, giving him a high five.
Jack joined them a few seconds later and both boys thanked him for the gifts without Kat’s prompting. He seemed pleased by their reactions, but he looked at Kat and said, “He’s going to meet me in half an hour at the bar where you were working when I first got to town.”
Kat was too stunned to respond until Tag nudged her, a questioning look in his eyes. Kat smiled and ruffled his hair in a way he hated. “I need to go with Jack for an hour or so. It’s business. Do you think you could hang out with Char and keep an eye on Jordie? They’re going to be serving lunch pretty soon.”
Tag looked from Kat to Jack and back. “I guess so.”
Kat cleared things with Char, then waited while Jack gave her his cell number. “We’ll be back ASAP,” he said, flashing a small insider smile Kat’s way. “I still have a long drive ahead today.”
Kat knew that. She wasn’t going to forget it. Men made big promises—to love, honor, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live—then they left women like her and her mother.
She and Jack didn’t talk the whole way to Deadwood. Kat was oddly content to lean against his broad back and hold on. She didn’t want to think about all of the pressing personal issues on her slate, so she focused on her mother, instead. She’d talked to her aunt earlier. Mom was doing better. Medication was lifting her spirits. Kat was relieved, but she still felt guilty for not getting to Spearfish to see her. She hadn’t even introduced her to Jack. And now, it was too late.
She looked up and let the wind steal her sigh. Next week. Hopefully she’d have time after the filming to take the boys for a visit. She had no idea what the job involved, but she was sure she could handle playing an extra.
She was a natural. She’d been an extra all her life.
PETE WAS SITTING at the bar when they arrived. Guy was behind the bar, as usual. He acknowledged her with an understated nod. “Hey, Kat, thought you’d be at the movie-star party. Did you hear they’re going to do some filming out front?”
From what the publicist who’d cornered her first thing that morning had said, the film crew was going to be all over the Black Hills taking footage that could be edited into a final cut. “Great for business, huh?”
“Hope so. What can I get you?”
“Water would be good. Guy, have you met Jack?”
“You’re Brian’s friend, right?”
The two shook hands. “I’m Kat’s friend.”
Guy glanced at Pete, then back. “O-kay. Beer?”
Jack shook his head. “Another time. Thanks.” He looked at Pete and said, “I’ll get us a table.”
Pete scowled. Kat knew her ex hated to be bossed around. She took her glass of water and followed Jack. After some mostly indistinguishable grumbling, Pete joined them. He set his half-finished draft on the table, then flipped the chair around backward and straddled it. “So, what’s this about you being a dentist and wanting to help my kid? Seems pretty obvious you already helped yourself to my ex.”
Kat couldn’t prevent the blush, but a swift kick to his shin helped alleviate some of her embarrassment.
Pete ignored her. “You’re the same guy who was getting a tat the day I picked up Tag, aren’t you? Tag said you were
n’t too friendly.”
“Would you let some kid you never met before climb on your twenty-thousand-dollar bike?”
The answer sounded more like Mad Jack than her Jack, but it apparently made sense to Pete. “He should know better. His mom lets him get away with too much.”
Kat closed her eyes and sighed. She’d known Pete would get around to assigning blame sooner or later.
“He’s a kid,” Jack said firmly. “I could have handled things better, but I haven’t been around kids much.” He shrugged. “Anyway, here’s the thing. I asked Kat to marry me.”
She jolted upright, completely not expecting that revelation. “And I said no,” she quickly inserted.
“I hope to change her mind in the near future. But the point is I plan to be around your son and Jordie for a long time to come. If the tables were reversed, I’d want to know who was hanging out with my kid.”
Pete looked at Kat and said, “You’re knocked up.”
She tried to bluff. “Didn’t you hear what I said? When he asked me to marry him, I said no.”
She could see that confused Pete. And Pete hated to be confused. He liked things nice and simple, black and white.
Her brief sense of dodging a bullet—at least temporarily—ended when Jack’s eyes narrowed and his gaze locked with hers, but instead of outing her, he said, “About your son’s teeth. I’ll tell you straight out I specialize in adult orthodontia, but even I can tell he’s going to need braces. And the sooner you get started, the easier it’s going to be on him.”
“And you’re volunteering to fix his teeth out of the goodness of your heart,” Pete said snidely.
Jack’s jaw muscle tightened. “I’m volunteering to absorb the cost—whether I do the work or you take him to someone else—because his mother can’t afford to have her son’s teeth fixed on the paltry amount of child support you pay her.”
“Are you saying I’m cheap?”
“Yeah, I am.”
Both men jumped to their feet and sort of scratched the ground like a couple of young bull bison trying to impress the dominant female. The thought made her laugh out loud.
They turned to look at her. “I just realized that I’m the matriarch of this tribe,” she said, “And I’ve been doing a pretty damn good job despite the lack of support from my ex-husbands.”
She pointed her finger at Pete. “We’re changing the amount of child support you pay. Tag couldn’t do Little League because I couldn’t afford all the driving. That’s plain wrong.” His scowl looked so much like her father’s she almost lost her nerve, but she made herself go on. “Which reminds me. Why am I providing round-trip taxi service to your house? From now on, we pick a halfway point to meet.”
“What are you talking about? I was at your place twice last week.”
“Oooh. You swung what? Five, six miles out of your way to take your son camping? That was really big of you, Pete.”
He had the grace to blush.
“And another thing. No more just dropping him off when you run into some problem with your wife and other kids. That hurts Tag. He may not show it, but it does. It hurt me when my parents treated me like a bag of produce.”
Pete looked ready to argue, but Jack stepped to her side and put a very large, solid hand on her shoulder. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Pete got the message.
“Fine. I’ll tell Michelle that as long as we don’t have to pay for his teeth out of pocket, the money can go to child support. Within reason,” he added, giving Kat a meaningful squint.
She was too riled up to be reasonable. She’d been reasonable all her life, and frankly, unreasonable was a lot more empowering. But before she could unload any of the thousand or so long-held complaints she had, Jack said, “You can start by taking Tag while Kat’s working as an extra for the TV show. She shouldn’t have to scramble to pay for child care when your wife is a stay-at-home mom and you have a pool in your backyard.”
Pete gave Kat another black look, but he muttered, “Fine.”
Kat wasn’t sure exactly what got settled, but neither man seemed inclined toward chitchat, so she and Jack promptly left. As they approached his bike, he said, “I’m sorry if I came on too strong in there. You’re more than capable of speaking for yourself, but I noticed with my sister that divorce seems to bring out the worst in people. My ex-brother-in-law got incredibly petty over the dumbest things.”
“It’s okay. Pete has control issues where women are concerned. It was the main reason behind our divorce. His current wife takes a lot more than I was willing to put up with.”
Jack handed her the extra helmet, but she didn’t put it on right away. “Just for the record, what are your plans?”
“I’m going back to Denver to start the process of moving.”
“What? You’re moving here? Seriously?”
“Would you find that easier to believe if I told you I put a down payment on a three-bedroom house in Sentinel Pass today? Well…a small one. I didn’t have my checkbook. And it’s contingent on a walk-through. I’ve only seen the place from the outside.”
Her jaw dropped. “There aren’t any hou—Oh, my God. Mrs. Smith’s place? That’s where Cooper and Shane are staying.”
“Past tense. Coop and Libby are keeping her house, and Shane is at Jenna’s. Some crew members are renting it this week. That’s why we didn’t go inside. But Mrs. Smith’s son and daughter were in town to put it on the market, and I made them an offer. They took it.”
She shook her head, trying to process this twist. “Jack, we don’t even know for sure if I’m pregnant. I haven’t taken the test yet. You can’t turn your life upside down over this. What if I’m wrong?”
His smile made her heart do a double flip. “Then we have to keep trying till we get it right.”
“Jack,” she said in her most fervent mother-knows-best tone, “that doesn’t make any sense. You barely know me. You’re not in love with me. You can’t be.”
His arm snaked out and he raked her flush against his body. “I know everything I need to know, Kat. I just need to convince you of that. And I can’t do that from Denver.” He kissed her lightly. “Maybe we could start with a date. You know—the thing two people who are interested in each other do to get to know each other better?”
His grin packed about a thousand watts of swoo, and Kat had trouble remembering what she was going to say. “But…but what about your business?”
“My dad used to preach about the importance of building up a practice and developing strong client relationships, but I watched those valued clients flee like rats from a sinking ship at the first hint of rumors that were patently untrue. Dentistry is my career, not my calling. And certainly not my life. I don’t think I realized that until…”
He didn’t finish. If he’d said, “until I met you,” she wouldn’t have believed him, so she didn’t press for details. Her head was spinning, and at the moment all she wanted was to get back to her sons. “We should go.”
He nodded in agreement and stepped away, reaching into his pocket for the key. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll drop you off in Sentinel Pass and keep driving. I want to make Edgemont before dark and I have a bunch of calls to make. But tell Tag I’ll be back as soon as I can. If you want to get the ball rolling with a local orthodontist, no problem. Just tell him I plan to consult on the case and send the bill to me.”
She yanked on her chin strap. She couldn’t think. Her mother liked to say, “The proof was in the pudding.” If this talk of moving panned out, fine. She’d deal with him the same way she did Pete and Drew. If he never came back…well, she’d do what she always did. Get by.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“YOU MEAN YOU DON’T even know if there is a baby?”
Jack was already tired of this discussion and he’d just started it. He’d waited all week to invite his mother and sister to dinner so he could break the news. Rachel, who’d phoned every evening to check on him, had heard bits and pieces of what
had transpired on his journey, but he’d asked her not to tell their mother until he had the majority of his plans finalized.
Fortunately their mother had been playing golf in Grand Junction with a group of retired friends, so he’d been able to conduct most of his business in private. She’d only returned that morning and hadn’t questioned his invitation to a Friday-evening barbecue.
“Why doesn’t anyone believe me?” he asked, more to himself than either of the women sitting at the table across from him. He’d overcooked the salmon. No one seemed to notice. “I don’t care if Kat is pregnant or not. And for the record, she called me on Monday and said she took a home pregnancy test and it was negative. But she still feels pregnant. She’s going to give it another week before she sees a doctor.”
“Why would this Kat woman say she was pregnant if she didn’t know for sure? That sounds terribly irresponsible, Jackson.”
“Mom, I think you’re missing the point. What Jack is saying is he loves Kat, which is short for Katherine, I believe, and wants to marry her no matter what.”
Jack smiled his appreciation. He could tell by the haunted look in his sister’s eyes that any talk of love was a painful reminder of her broken heart. Her whirlwind affair and tumultuous marriage had ended so badly she’d barely been able to get out of bed for a month.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Rachel. This is Jackson we’re talking about. He isn’t some flighty character in a romance novel. He’s deliberate and intelligent. He makes thoughtful, balanced decisions based on facts and realistic projections.”
Jack and his sister exchanged a look. “No, Mom, that’s you,” Jack said as gently as possible. “I’m more like Dad. I’ve been trying really hard most of my life not to be because we all know how badly he got burned. But I can’t fake it anymore. What happened to Dad was unfortunate. It nearly killed him and left you so jaded about people you forgot Dad’s purpose for being a dentist—to help people. Especially children.
“And whether you meant to or not, your fears affected me and my choices. But not anymore. I’m going to work on kids and at least half my practice will be offered free or at reduced prices for people who normally wouldn’t be able to afford to take their kids to an orthodontist.”
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