“Can I bring anything when I come tomorrow? Coffee? Donuts?”
It was almost laughable.
Even a little terrified, and sweating from the stress, Adam still fell into the same pipe dream almost every other man who came to Shadow Pine carried.
Frankie groaned out a sigh. “None of us are going to fuck you, Adam, let alone fall in love and have your babies. Understood?”
“I wasn’t thinking that.” His eyes roamed the women still barricading him in. “I swear, I wasn’t .”
“We don’t like liars, Adam.” Sam’s nostrils barely flared. “Not at all.”
He shifted on his feet. “Maybe just for a second I thought it, but that was it. I promise.”
“You should make sure not to think it again, because it will never happen.” Alex, tipped down her shades as the morning sun peeked through the trees, streaking over the roofline of Danny’s shop. “About tomorrow.” She glanced side to side. “We need three iced lattes and two hot mochas.”
Adam’s head was bobbing again. “Three lattes, two mochas. Got it. What about foo-”
“I’m getting to that, Adam. You need to learn to be patient.” Alex paused, testing his commitment to doing exactly what they asked.
And Adam actually passed, keeping his lips pressed tight together, waiting for his next instructions.
“We would like some of those fancy quiches from the coffee shop. The ones with ham and asparagus.” Her lips barely curved into a smile that might just melt poor Adam into a puddle at their feet. “And some bagels. Specifically the cinnamon crunch ones.”
“Those are my favorite.” Jude piped up from behind them where he stood close at Craig’s side.
Alex didn’t look away from Adam, but her expression barely softened. “I know, sweet boy.” She lifted her perfectly-shaped blonde brows at the man in their midst. “Got it, Fancy Pants?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Adam stood stock still. “Should I go now?”
Alex barely nodded. “Yes. You should go now.”
“Yup. Okay.” Adam’s feet moved in place, trying to figure out how to escape the spot he was in.
Finally Danny took pity on him and stepped back, breaking the circle. Adam immediately darted out, all but running to the passenger’s side of the van. The cameraman didn’t waste time taking off. He’d already lowered the antennae and the engine was idling.
“I’m guessing he brings someone else with him tomorrow.” Sam crossed her arms as they watched the van leave town as fast as nearly all the men before them had.
“As long as he brings my quiche and coffee I don’t give a shit who he brings with him.” Alex adjusted the bow tied into the silky shirt she wore.
“We shouldn’t have done this.” Sam huffed out a breath as her eyes found Danny. “I should have stopped you.”
Danny turned to her sisters. “This was going to happen sooner or later. We might as well do it on our terms.” She glanced at where Jude stood. “I don’t want him to have to hide forever. It’s not fair.”
Sam’s nostrils barely flared. “Don’t use him against me. I’ve always done what’s best for Jude. You know damn well I have.”
“I didn’t say you hadn’t.”
Sam had done what was best for everyone her whole life. It had made all their lives better.
Unfortunately it might have made Sam’s worse.
“She’s right, Sam.” Frankie gave their oldest sister an apologetic smile. “Our businesses are expanding too fast. Someone will put it all together soon and if that happens we won’t be able to control it.” Her eyes met Danny’s. “This might be our best chance to get ahead of it.” Her lips twisted into a sly grin. “And Adam seems awful easy to work with.”
“We need to bring more help in.” Lance drew all their attention his way. “I don’t like this happening without more hands on deck.”
Danny sized him up. Craig trusted him. Enough to let him help Jude.
And while Lance might be blood, might be a good father and husband, that didn’t mean he understood the way things worked here. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’d like to bring a few of my men from the East Coast here to help manage the influx of tourism you’re going to have.”
Danny laughed. “Tourism?” She held her arms out. “What in the hell will they come here for?”
“Curiosity.” Lance barely tipped his head toward them. “They will want to come see you.”
“I don’t think that’s all it will be.” Craig studied Danny and her sisters for a minute. “I think most of your visitors will be very different from the ones you’re used to.”
Lance glanced his way. “I didn’t even think of that.”
“What are you talking about?” Danny padded toward them in her bare feet, finally feeling the chill of the concrete seeping into her skin.
“Women.” Craig stepped toward her, scooping her up. “Women will want to come here.” He pulled her tight to his bare chest. “They will want to support you. Show solidarity.”
Danny looped one arm around his neck. “I doubt a bunch of women want to come look at a taxidermy shop, a bakery and a post office.”
“I think you’re onto something there, City Boy.” Alex pulled out her phone and thumbed through the screen with one hand, waving the other one their way. “Take that somewhere else. No one wants to see it.”
Charlie sighed softly, eyes lingering on where Craig cradled her against his body.
“I’ll go get dressed and come back so we can talk about tomorrow.” Danny turned her head to look back at her sisters over Craig’s shoulder as he carried her back toward the house. “I’ll meet you at the bakery.”
Lance’s phone was pressed to his ear as he paced up the side of her shop toward the fifth wheel. “He doesn’t need to bring people here.”
“I learned a long time ago that if Lance wants to help with something you should let him. He’s smart and almost as driven as you and your sisters.”
Danny snorted. “Based on the size of that fifth wheel I’d say he’s significantly more driven than we are.”
“Lance came from money.” Craig’s eyes met hers. “Like me. It makes some things much easier.” His gaze snapped away. “Some less.”
Craig paused, turning toward where Jude was lagging behind. “Come on, Buddy. I need you to open the door for me.”
Jude raced past them and up the steps. Craig set her down inside the house before turning to her son. “I gotta tell you something now because things are about to get real busy around here, okay?”
Jude hesitated. “Okay.”
“You were right. I do like your momma.” Craig crouched down, putting his tall frame lower than Jude’s. “I want to take care of her and I want to take care of you.”
“You do take care of us.” Jude’s uncertain eyes moved to her for a second before going back to Craig.
Craig smiled. “I want to keep doing it. All the time.”
Jude’s lips shifted around as he mulled what Craig said over. “So you want to be her boyfriend?”
Craig walked on his knees, getting closer to Jude, leaning into her son’s ear, whispering low enough Danny couldn’t hear, no matter how hard she strained, which meant Craig knew damn well she would try to listen and made sure his voice was so low Jude could only hear because of what he was.
Jude’s eyes slowly slid her way and he barely nodded.
Craig leaned back. “Do we have a deal?”
Craig held his hand out, smiling wide as her son grabbed hold and gave it a solid single shake.
“Deal.”
TWENTY-ONE
“HOW’S YOUR BAGEL, Buddy?” Craig forced his focus on where Jude sat at the counter, shoving in a cream-cheese-covered cinnamon crunch bagel.
“Great.” Jude swiped at the corner of his mouth, wiping away a glob of cheese caught there.
Not being with Danny right now was making his skin crawl and his muscles jumpy, but Jude’s safety and happiness was just as importa
nt as hers was. If he was with Danny he’d be wound up about Jude. There simply wasn’t any way to win right now.
He just had to nut up and trust that Lance could handle anything that happened.
“Can I go see Vanessa and Kari when I’m done?” Jude gulped down a few swallows of his milk.
“They are actually coming here as soon as they’re all up and dressed.” While Lance and JD kept an eye on Adam, he was paired up with Kari, making sure Jude was as in the dark as he could be.
The kid sure as hell deserved a little naive childhood bliss.
Three short raps on the door signaled Kari’s arrival. A second later the door opened and the volume in the house immediately went up. Vanessa raced toward Jude, her frilly dress swinging as she went. “Morning, Ju-Ju.” She launched at the chair and started climbing, scaling the seat and the boy in it with a smile on her face. “What’s you eating?”
“A bagel. You want one?”
“Yes, please.” She wiggled around until she was on his lap, smacking her hands on the counter.
“Can you eat a whole one?” Craig pulled a bagel from the box Adam brought this morning when he showed back up in Shadow Pine.
Kari snorted. “She might eat two.” She booped her daughter on the nose. “This little miss is a growing girl.”
“I growing.” Vanessa nodded at him as he spread cream cheese across her bagel. “I will be big.”
Craig cut the bagel into chunks manageable for a two-year-old and slid the plate across the counter. “You are already big.” He gave her a wink, the smile freezing on his face as an odd feeling swept over him.
“I’ve seen that look.” Kari gave him a once over. “I saw it this morning, actually.” She opened the fridge and pulled out the jug of milk, pouring a little into one of the sippy cups she brought from the camper. She stepped beside him and sat the cup next to Vanessa’s plate before going back to where Brenna was laying on a blanket, batting at the activity center arched over her body.
Craig expected Kari to elaborate on the comment. At least give him some explanation, not just say it and then walk away.
“You got her, Buddy?” He waited for Jude to nod before going to where Kari was making faces at her younger daughter. “What look?”
Kari shot a quick glance to where Jude and Vanessa sat at the island. “The look of a man with babies on his mind.”
Craig wasn’t going to deny it. Working so hard to fit into a role that might one day be considered fatherhood. Seeing Jude with Vanessa. It all made it feel like it could actually be real.
That he could have what he never intended to want.
For years Craig believed if he’d been a little better his mother would have paid attention to him. If he’d been smarter.
Funnier.
Calmer.
So he was. For years he chased her affection. Worked harder.
But even as a grown man his mother didn’t have time for him.
And it had nothing to do with the fact that she didn’t have time for a child. His mother’s problem had nothing to do with her career choice. It was an issue that wasn’t connected to her gender, or even the fact that she was a parent.
His mother only cared about herself. Period.
What made her happy. What mattered in the world she chose to exist in.
And he simply didn’t.
But he did care about Jude. About how he felt. His happiness.
Jude mattered to him. So did Vanessa.
And Annabelle and Brenna.
“Not that I blame you.” Kari gave him a smile. “Danny is pretty amazing.”
“It’s not just about her.” Craig reached out to let Brenna grip his finger in a tiny fist. “It’s about this place.”
Not that Danny alone wouldn’t be enough for him. She absolutely would be.
But add in Jude and the village surrounding them, and it was everything he’d never had.
The same family dynamic that attracted him to Greenlea and the Wolffsen clan. “I like it here.”
“I can see why.” Kari smiled. “We like it here too.” She eased back to sit on her butt. “Lance is looking into ways we can split our time between here and Greenlea.” She reached out to stroke down her youngest daughter’s head. “I think it’s important for the girls to know their aunts.” Kari’s eyes lifted to his. “See what they’re like and all they’ve accomplished.”
Pride swelled in his chest over Kari’s clear realization at the life her sister-in-law’s built from less than nothing. “I think they are in for a surprise when the world comes for them.”
“I don’t disagree.” She leaned back on her hands on the soft carpet covering the laminate floor. “I can see how it would be hard for them to imagine this will be a positive experience, but I think there are a few people who will make sure it is.” Her gaze landed pointedly on him.
“They need this. They deserve a place in the world. One they don’t have to try to hide.”
Kari smiled. “Don’t we all.”
****
“I WANT TO bring in a private security company to help monitor things for a little while.” Lance sat at the dinette in his camper. “I’m afraid this might be more than we can handle on our own. I just want to be safe.” He flipped a few papers toward where Craig and JD sat in the booth with him. “These are the three that have been recommended to me. I’d like to get this started as soon as possible, so they can come in and be familiar to my sisters before the story hits.”
“The story hits this weekend.” JD’s nostrils flared as his brows moved low over his eyes. “That’s not a lot of time.”
“Then let’s pick and commit. Get them out here and working.” Lance tapped the sheet directly in front of Craig. “This is my choice. They are well-established, local, and family-run. I think they will understand the dynamic here better than anyone.”
“And what dynamic is that?” Craig scanned the page for Miller’s Private Security. The girls had been meeting with Adam almost every day for two weeks, giving the reporter and his cameraman tiny glimpses into their life every day, an hour at a time.
“They will have surely heard of the Backwoods Beauties, and probably a lot of the hearsay that went along with it.” Lance scratched down the stubble lining his cheek. “They will understand this isn’t just about crowd control.”
“You really think people are going to come all the way out here just to get a look at them?” There was an odd tone to JD’s voice. The thought of the sisters being displayed like animals at a zoo clearly rubbed him the wrong way.
He wasn’t alone.
“I don’t think that’s how this is going to play out.” Lance shook his head. “Not at all.” His lips curved into a slow, ornery-looking smile. “If you think the estrogen level here is already high, then you might want to prepare yourself, because I think it’s about to blow the roof off this place.”
“You really think it’s just gonna be women coming here?” JD didn’t look convinced. Probably because he’d witnessed firsthand the kind of visitors the town usually got.
“Not initially.” Lance shuffled through the papers piled in front of him. “But I don’t think it will last long.”
JD didn’t look any more confident in Lance’s prediction than he did before, but there was too much to do for them to continue debating what might happen. Craig shoved the information for Miller’s back at Lance. “I’m good with them.”
Lance looked to JD. “What do you think? You know more about this area than we do.”
JD’s eyes slid from Lance to Craig. “That why you’re including me?”
“It’s not the only reason, but it’s one of them.” Lance leaned back in his seat. “I’m happy to list the other, more significant reason if you want me to.”
JD’s eyes narrowed on Lance for a minute, assessing.
Probably trying to figure out what Lance knew.
It was the same thing anyone with half a clue could figure out.
JD was protective of
all the sisters. Watched over them.
But he had a clear soft-spot. One that somehow neither Danny or her sisters seemed to notice, or if they did, were smart enough not to bring up.
“Nope.” JD tapped the paper with one hand. “Miller’s is a good company. They’re small though. Might have to take on new guys to handle this job.”
Lance’s brows went up. “How do you feel about that?”
“I went to school with Tate. He’s a good guy.” JD paused, his jaw shifting from side to side as he eyed the paper. “I think they can handle it.”
“Good.” Lance snagged the paper and added it to the file. “One of my guys will be here later today to help with all this, so I’ll get him on it. Anything else we need to do?”
JD chuckled. “Not until that damn polar bear gets here.” He wiped one hand down his face. “Supposedly the display’s ten feet tall and four hundred pounds. I don’t know how in the hell we’re going to get it inside.”
Lance’s normally cool and calm demeanor slipped. “Polar bear?”
“Danny did a restoration project for a local museum and they’ve been recommending her to their friends.” It was one more reason the timing on this was perfect. Between Danny, Sam, and Frankie, it was only going to be a matter of time before people started noticing the little town of Shadow Pine, and the attention would have nothing to do with the Backwoods Beauties.
At least not initially.
But it wouldn’t take long for people to start putting two and two together. That’s why they needed to get ahead of it.
Lance grinned. “Vanessa’s going to lose her mind when she sees it.”
“Someone just called yesterday about a buffalo.” Craig had been helping at the shop while Danny and her sisters worked through this uncharted territory. “So I think a polar bear is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Lance snorted. “Funny.”
“I’ve been hanging out with a ten-year-old.” Craig tipped back the last of the coffee in his cup. “Speaking of, I promised Jude a trip into the city today.” He scooted out of the dinette. “I’ll see you guys later.”
Craig found Jude at the kitchen island with Vanessa on his knee. The two of them had become thick as thieves since her arrival in Shadow Pine, and it was the best thing that could have happened. Jude now had someone to focus all his protective tendencies on. It took them down to a more normal level for a kid his age. Now instead of trying to handle adult issues and fears he worried about her falling and scraping her knee.
Danny (Big Northwest Book 1) Page 21