Читать книгу The Texan's Christmas - Linda Warren, Linda Warren - Страница 10

KID SANK INTO A COMFY CHAIR in Cadde’s den, feeling out of breath and sucker punched by a blue-eyed, short-haired blonde.

The land is not for lease. To a Hardin.

After that, Lucky put the lid on anything else he had to say. It was the first time in his life that his smile, his words, had failed, but it wasn’t over. Lucky just thought it was.

His chest tightened and he focused on Jessie playing on the floor with Jacob. The moment the baby saw him he fell to all fours and crawled over, pulling up on Kid’s jeans.

“Hey, partner.” Kid lifted the nine-month-old baby onto his lap. Jacob bounced up and down, smiling, showing off his two lower teeth. Kid had always thought he didn’t want kids, but the moment Jacob was born something changed in him. Instead of going on a date, he’d play with Jacob. He didn’t understand that. Maybe it had something to do with his thirty-eight-plus years, which he’d been reminded of more than once today.

The whirl of a helicopter sounded above. Before Roscoe Murdock, Jessie’s father, had died, he’d purchased a top-of-the-line helicopter for Shilah Oil so they could save time when traveling to oil wells. It was also an easy way for Cadde and Chance to go to work in Houston. Jacob’s eyes opened wide and his mouth formed an O. Quickly he scooted from Kid’s lap and crawled to his mother.

Jessie clapped her hands. “Daddy’s home.”

Excited, Jacob bounced up and down again on his butt. All he had on was a diaper and a T-shirt.

“What door does Daddy come in?” Jessie asked.

Jacob’s mouth formed another O. “Da, da, da, da,” Jacob babbled. Mirry, Jessie’s dog, barked and trotted to the back door. The baby zoomed after her.

“He’s understanding a lot,” Kid said.

“Yes, he does,” Jessie replied. “We read to him all the time and he loves animals.”

“Wonder where he gets that from?” Jessie had an affinity for animals. Besides Mirry, she had a one-eyed donkey, a ram with no horns, five abused horses that were now healthy and a fawn she’d raised from a bottle. She’d set the doe free, but she always came back for feed and pampering.

When he’d first met Jessie, she was standoffish, but a looker, like Bubba Joe had said, with dark tumbling hair and black eyes. Her father protected and sheltered her all her life. On his deathbed, the man had made a deal with Cadde—marry my daughter and keep her safe and I’ll give you my shares in Shilah Oil.

For ten years Cadde had worked his ass off for Roscoe. He’d earned everything he’d inherited, but Roscoe forgot to mention that Jessie received the largest part of Shilah. That set up the biggest test of wills Kid had ever seen. It had brought his strong brother to his knees and Jessie almost lost her sanity. But through it all they found the magic formula—love.

Love—what the hell was it?

“You look a little down,” Jessie remarked, picking up a toy.

Kid clasped his hands between his knees. “I just had to face my past and it was a little unsettling.”

“Cadde said you were trying to lease a piece of land from an old girlfriend.”

“Yeah. My high school sweetheart, Lucky Littlefield.”

“Oh.” Jessie paused in stacking Jacob’s toys on the coffee table. “I’ve met her.”

“That right?”

“Yes, at Walker’s General Store. I was browsing so long at the old neat stuff that Jacob grew fussy. He threw his stuffed dog out of the stroller. Lucky handed it back to him. Mirry didn’t bark or growl like she usually does if anyone gets near him. Mirry’s a very good judge of character. Lucky introduced herself and I liked her. She’s very pretty with a stylish haircut.”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you frowning?”

Was he? He hadn’t realized that.

“Don’t you like her hair?”

He shrugged. “It used to be long.”

“And you liked it that way?”

He looked into Jessie’s teasing eyes. “Could we change the subject?”

She picked up another toy as if he hadn’t spoken. “Cadde said she was the owner of The Beer Joint. When he said ‘beer joint,’ I had this vision of an older woman with yellowish bleached blond hair, tight-fitting clothes, a cigarette dangling from her lip and someone who had lived a rougher-than-rough lifestyle. Lucky wasn’t like that at all. It’s all about how we perceive people and most of the time it’s wrong.”

He stared down at his locked hands. “Kids in school looked down on her because her dad ran The Beer Joint.”

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Did you look down on Lucky because of her circumstances?”

Did he?

“No,” he answered his own question. “We were close since about the seventh grade. I didn’t care what her father did for a living.”

“That’s a long time to know someone.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his hands together. He remembered the first time she’d smiled at him and his heart had almost pounded out of his chest. He remembered the first time he’d kissed her. He remembered…

The back door opened and childish squeals of delight echoed from the hallway. Cadde walked in with Jacob in his arms, Mirry at his feet, barking, as if to alert everyone that Cadde was home.

Jessie placed her hand on the coffee table and tried to stand, but at seven months pregnant she was having difficulty.

Cadde kissed his son’s cheek. “Go play with Uncle Kid. Daddy has to help Mommy.”

Jacob shook his head vigorously and clung to Cadde. Reaching down, Cadde lifted Jessie with one arm while still holding Jacob. Nestling into his side, Jessie kissed him, her eyes sparkling.

“I think this baby is going to weigh ten pounds,” she said, rubbing her stomach. She stroked Jacob’s head. “You get a little territorial when Daddy comes home.”

Jacob made a whimpering sound and Jessie laughed. “I’m going to check on supper. Kid, you’re welcome to stay.”

“I didn’t know you cooked.”

Her eyes darkened and he knew that was the wrong thing to say. Trying to rectify the blunder he quickly added, “Thanks, Jessie, but I’m eating at Aunt Etta’s.”

“Rosa does not do all the cooking at our house,” she told him. Rosa and Felix Delgado had raised Jessie since she was seven. They now lived next door in a house that Cadde had built for them. They were Jessie’s protectors. Her family. When Roscoe’s niece had been kidnapped and murdered, he made sure that no one could get to his daughter. Roscoe was more than paranoid about her safety. But that was all behind them and he knew how important it was for Jessie to have a life. A family. He should have kept his mouth shut.

“I’m sorry, Jessie. I’ve had a rough day.”

She walked over and kissed his cheek. “You’re forgiven.”

After Jessie left, Cadde sat on the sofa with Jacob resting against him, his legs locked around Cadde’s waist.

“Stop aggravating my wife.”

“I seem to be pissing off everyone today—without even trying.”

Cadde rubbed his son’s back, kissing his fat cheek.

As Kid watched his brother with his son, he felt a blow to his chest. This was what he wanted; a child rushing to the door in excitement to greet him, a woman who had eyes only for him. He wanted his own family.

“From the look on your face I’d say that you managed to piss off Lucky.”

It took a moment for him to focus. He shifted in his chair. “She’d rather tar and feather me and then set fire to me before leasing to Shilah.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“No. I just need to regroup.”

He could feel Cadde’s eyes on him. “Maybe you need to start with an apology.”

“It’s been twenty years. What do I have to apologize for?” He stood in an angry movement. “We didn’t even know what love was.”

“Do you now?”

“Hell, no.”

“The Kid I know would have sweet-talked his way through this, but somehow Lucky is a stumbling block for you. Why?”

“I don’t know. All these memories seem to crowd in on me.”

“Guilt, maybe?”

Kid ignored that. “I just can’t figure out why she’s running her dad’s place.”

“Why does it matter?”

“I’m going down to Chance’s to talk to him.” He was going to kiss Jacob but saw he was asleep.

“Kid,” Cadde called as his brother walked away.

He glanced back.

“Let me or Chance handle this. We need the lease signed.”

“I said I’d do it and I will.”

In less than a minute Kid was in his truck and headed down the road to Chance’s. He had stayed in High Cotton longer than any of the brothers. He probably knew more about Lucky than anyone, and Kid planned to be prepared the next time he saw her. Today she’d knocked him for a loop. That wasn’t going to happen again.

Cadde had built a big two-story house to the right of their parents’ old house. To the left was Chance and Shay’s house, a sprawling one story with a barn and a corral. Because of Jessie’s animals Cadde also had a barn and pens. The Hardin boys had come home in a big way.

Pulling over to the side of the road, he gazed at the old home place for a moment. The decaying white frame house sat on Kid’s part of the land. Some day soon they’d have to do something about the house. For years they’d been putting it off. They might be grown men but they were afraid to open the door and face the demons of their youth. Or maybe it was the memories they didn’t want to face. Memories that were perfect in their minds, but maybe in reality they weren’t.

Whatever it was, Kid decided he had enough demons to face. One in particular was Lucinda Littlefield.

Kid saw Chance and Darcy at the roping pen so he drove there. Darcy was throwing a rope at a dummy calf while Chance leaned on the fence watching her and giving instructions. Tiny, Darcy’s Chihuahua, sat at Chance’s feet.

“Twirl it,” Chance shouted to his daughter. “Use your wrist.”

Eleven-year-old Darcy flung the rope toward the dummy and it missed by an inch. “Shoot.” She stomped her foot.

“Try again,” Chance said.

Kid joined his younger brother at the pipe fence. “Are we having a rodeo or something?”

“Nah. Just showing Darcy a little extra attention. Everyone makes a fuss over the baby and I don’t want her to feel left out.”

Darcy was adopted, but no one would ever guess that by the way Chance doted on her.

“Hey, Uncle Kid.” Darcy waved. “Watch me.”

“Hey, hotshot.” He waved back. Hotshot was Chance’s nickname for her. Now everyone called her that. It fit. The girl was spunky and didn’t have a shy bone in her body.

She swung the rope and it landed in a perfect loop over the dummy. “Daddy, Daddy, did you see?” Darcy jumped up and down.

“That’s my girl.”

Darcy ran and jumped on the fence. Chance lifted his daughter over the top.

“I’m good, huh, Daddy?” Darcy pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“You’re the best.” Chance hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

“Here comes Mommy.” Darcy drew away and dashed to meet Shay who was walking across the lawn, holding baby Cody. Wearing denim shorts and a tank top, Shay looked beautiful, as always.

“He was asleep earlier,” Shay said, handing the baby dressed in a blue outfit and cap to him. “Now he wants to see his uncle Kid.”

Kid stared down at the three-month-old baby. Cody moved his head around, his greenish-brown eyes wide-open as he flailed his hands and legs.

“I just nursed him and he wants more.”

Chance kissed his son’s forehead. “Enough, buddy.”

“Can I hold him, Mommy?” Darcy wanted to know.

“When we get back to the house.”

“Does anyone notice how much Cody looks like Jacob?” he asked, studying the chubby cheeks and cap of brown hair.

“Yeah,” Chance replied, “except Jacob has Jessie’s black eyes. Cody’s will probably be brown like mine.”

Kid cradled the baby in the crook of his arm and there it was again. That feeling. Suddenly he could put a name to it. Loneliness. His brothers, his running partners, were married and settled with families. He was the odd one out—alone and unattached. Holding their children filled that loneliness inside him. But it wasn’t enough. The thought startled him.

“Shay.”

Shay’s cousin, Nettie, strolled toward them. The woman wore a long full skirt and a gypsy blouse with her long gray hair flowing down her back. A purple scarf was tied around her head. Beads of every color were around her neck and on her wrists. She professed to be a gypsy-witch and took some getting used to. But she and Kid were now friends.

From the start, Shay had wanted Nettie to move in with them because Nettie had raised her and Shay didn’t want her to be alone. Nettie, not wanting to horn in on newlyweds, refused. She liked her independence. When Shay became pregnant, Nettie changed her mind. She moved in about four months ago and took care of Cody while Shay taught school.

“It’s too hot out here for the baby,” Nettie said.

“The sun’s going down and it’s only for a few minutes,” Shay told her, glancing at her son. “He’s asleep so you can put him down. How’s that?”

“I know I’m a little overprotective.” Nettie’s beads jangled as she talked.

“A little?” Chance laughed.

Kid handed off the precious bundle to Nettie, who immediately pulled the cap over Cody’s forehead.

“Hey, Nettie, how about telling my future?” Nettie read palms and Kid thought he could use some help.

“It’s right in front of your face.”

“What? You haven’t even looked at my palm.”

“I don’t need to. Your life line is long and leads to home, but it will not be a pleasant journey.”

Kid frowned. “Are you yanking my chain?”

Nettie smiled and walked toward the house with Cody.

Darcy waved a hand in front of his face. “Can you see anything, Uncle Kid?”

“Don’t be a smart…”

Chance cleared his throat.

“…butt,” he finished.

Darcy giggled and darted after Nettie, Tiny trailing behind her. “I’m gonna help with Cody.”

Standing on tiptoes, Shay reached up and kissed Chance. “Supper’s in about thirty minutes. And we have ice cream.”

Chance smiled and kept smiling.

“Kid, you’re welcome to stay,” Shay said, looking at him.

“Thanks, but Aunt Etta’s waiting.” What was it with the cooking? The women he knew didn’t know how to use a stove.

“I can’t beat that.”

Shay followed the others and Kid noticed Chance was still smiling. “Is ice cream a secret code or something?”

“What? Oh. Just memories of when we were dating.” Chance turned to him. “How’d it go with Lucky?”

Kid placed his boot on the bottom pipe of the fence. “Like sticking a needle in my eye for pleasure.”

“Ouch.”

“She’s mad and refused to sign a lease. No.” He rested his elbow on the fence. “She’s angry as hell—at me. After all these damn years, she’s still angry. I don’t get it.”

“Do you want me to hold a mirror up to your face?”

“What?”

“Nettie said your future is in front of you. Maybe you have to confront your past before you can see the future.”

“Is the heat making you loony?”

Chance sighed. “Kid, back away from this and I’ll talk to Lucky in the morning.”

“No.” Kid pointed a finger at his brother. “Cadde said the same thing, but neither one of you is taking over my job.”

“Okay. Okay.” Chance held up his hands. “I’m not going to mention how important it is to lease Lucky’s land. Everything else is leased up. Without that piece of property, we’re not drilling a well.”

Kid removed his boot and leaned his back against the pipe. He knew all the risks and he never saw a problem until today. There had to be a way around his shady past.

“How long has Lucky been home?”

Chance shrugged. “Five or six years. Why?”

“You’ve talked to her, right?”

“Lots of times.”

“Did she ever ask about me?”

“No.”

“Never?”

“Never.” Chance sighed again. “She didn’t bring up your name and I didn’t, either. Why is this so important to you?”

“Why did she come back?”

Chance leaned heavily on the fence and Kid got the impression he wanted to bump his head against it. “We were kids, but I know you remember the time two guys tried to rob The Beer Joint.”

“Yeah. It’s the only crime ever committed in High Cotton. Some stealing, family squabbles and speeding tickets, but no big crimes like the attempted robbery. As I recall two guys came in after closing with guns drawn demanding all the money. They just didn’t count on Bud having a .45 pistol in the cash register. He shot both of them before they could blink. When he walked around the bar, one of them squeezed off a shot and hit Bud in the hip.”

“That’s about it. One winter he slipped on some ice and injured the hip pretty bad again. Lucky came home to take care of him and she never left.”

“So she got a nursing degree?”

Chance shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I’ve never asked.”

Kid kicked at the dry September grass. “Why is she slinging beer?”

“That bothers you?”

“For some reason it does, and if you mention something about a mirror again I’m going to hit you.”

Chance shook his head. “Okay. But the bottom line is that Cadde’s not going to let this slide. It’s too important for Shilah. And it’s too important to us as a family.”

Kid headed for his truck. “I know. Talk to you later.”

No one had to tell him what signing that lease meant. They’d researched it thoroughly and the land around Giddings was rich in oil and gas. Through sheer tenacity Cadde had managed to secure several leases from other oil companies. That didn’t happen overnight. It took a lot of hours of negotiating.

The only holdout was the Littlefield tract. Bud had leased the land many years ago but the contract had expired without the property being included in a well. His research showed that ten years ago Bud had transferred the title of the land and all mineral rights to Lucky.

As someone who had leased many tracts of land for Shilah, he wondered about that. Why would someone in this economy refuse money? He couldn’t leave it alone so he dug deeper, calling some old friends who worked for other oil companies. The response he got was the daughter was harder to deal with than the father and it wasn’t worth the trouble for those fifty acres.

So maybe it wasn’t about not leasing to a Hardin.

Maybe it was something else.

AFTER KID LEFT, LUCKY SPOKE with Mr. Harvey, who had leased his land to Shilah. He was excited about the deal. She wasn’t and she’d just as soon never see Kid again. She tried to act normal, but her nerves were shaky, her stomach queasy. Hurrying to the storeroom, she sank onto a couple of cases of beer and took several deep breaths.

How could he waltz in here as if they’d never been lovers, never planned a future together? And how could she keep holding on to that pain? She bent forward, sucking air into her lungs. Oh, God, she hated herself for this weakness. She’d gotten over Kid a long time ago, she told herself. It was just seeing him so suddenly that had wiped out years of perfecting a cool facade. She hoped none of her inner turmoil showed.

Her nerves subsided and she forced herself to relax. As always, he was cool, collected and charming. That hadn’t changed, but when she looked at his handsome face all she could feel was the pain he’d caused her—the pain was a permanent reminder of their teenage relationship.

Her hand went to her hair. He used to love her long tresses, but that wasn’t the reason she’d had it cut. The style was easier in her line of work and it drew less attention. She took another breath. Running her hands through the thick layers, she wondered how different she looked to him.

Stop it!

Her cell buzzed and she eagerly reached for it, anything to keep Kid out of her head. It was her boss, Travis Coffman, and they set up a time to meet. She didn’t like working in The Beer Joint any more than Kid liked it, but it was part of her job, which meant a lot to her. It gave her validation and purpose she desperately needed.

As she slipped her phone into her pocket, Bubba Joe walked in. “It was great seeing Kid, huh?”

“I know you like him, Bubba, but I’d rather he didn’t come in here anymore.”

“Oh.” That blew Bubba’s mind. Everybody liked Kid.

“Listen.” She got to her feet. “I have to go out for a little while. Can you handle things?”

“Is Thelma Lou coming in?”

“No. It’s a weekday and it won’t be that busy.” She hated to douse Bubba’s obvious enthusiasm. He and Thelma had something going and she didn’t want to know about it. Thelma’s husband had left her with four kids and Lucky thought Bubba was getting in over his head. But then, what did she know about relationships? “I won’t be long.”

Going through the side door, she felt a rush of energy. This was the job she loved and she did it well, even if she had to run The Beer Joint as a cover.

Fortunately, Kid would never know about her secret life. And that was fine with her.