by Vivian Arend
“Nine months of nausea versus twenty-four hours or more of pain.” Karen made a face. “Difficult decision.”
“Shut up.”
“I was being serious,” Karen insisted.
The afternoon passed quickly. The little girls arrived home from school and joined the mix. Lisa soaked in every minute of the time with her sisters, pausing supper preparation when there was scratching at the back door.
Emma raced across the room and peered out the glass. “It’s Ollie.”
What? Lisa dried her hands on a towel and headed to the door. “What’s she doing here?”
“Maybe Josiah’s on the ranch,” Tamara suggested. “I thought you said he was taking care of her.”
“I didn’t think he’d bring her along if he was working,” Lisa said.
She glanced out the door to check for Josiah’s truck. When she didn’t see anything, she sent him a message.
Lisa: Where are you?
* * *
Josiah: Steven’s. What’s up?
* * *
Lisa: Ollie just arrived. I’ve got her in the house, but I didn’t want you to worry about her.
* * *
Josiah. Damn it. How the hell did she do that?
* * *
Josiah: Never mind. I’m nearly done. I’ll swing by and grab her.
* * *
Lisa: Want to stay for supper?
* * *
Josiah: Sure. Or I can take you out.
Which is when Lisa realized she’d just dropped Josiah into the middle of a “meet the parent” event. Did she want to do that? It was kind of impossible to retract her invitation at this point, but there was no way she could not be there when her dad arrived.
It seemed she was going over the waterfall in the barrel, and there was no changing direction.
She’d let him decide.
Lisa: No can do. Dad is arriving to meet Tyler, and if I’m not here I’ll be on the naughty-daughter list.
She expected him to take a moment to respond, but seconds later he was already writing back.
Josiah: That doesn’t surprise me. I fully expect you to be at the top of any naughty list. I’d love to stay. I’ll swing by Buns and Roses after I shower and grab something for dessert.
She bent and offered Ollie a firm rub on the back. “I don’t know how you found me, but I’m glad you’re not lost out there somewhere in the snow. Silly creature.”
Lisa filled a bowl with water, grabbed some food, and then tucked Ollie into the laundry room. She left the door partly open so Ollie could see out without actually being underfoot. Caleb was in the dogs don’t belong in the house camp and Lisa didn’t want to push it. Not when her dad was going to be here soon and was very firmly of the same opinion.
And then she chased down the little girls and made them haul out their homework. The same things she’d been helping with over the past months. But as a pair of big brown eyes watched her intently from where Ollie had settled down on the nest Lisa made for her, it felt different.
Not only was there a brand-new little life in the house, but Lisa stood at a split in the road. She wasn’t planning on running off and leaving Tamara that minute, but change was close. Very close. She’d have to make a decision about what to do next.
She was nowhere near ready.
Mealtimes at Silver Stone ranch were never awkward. They were noisy, they were loud. There was usually enough tempting food to make Josiah want to overindulge until he had to adjust his belt—something he tried extremely hard not to do.
The two things he wasn’t used to experiencing when he joined the Stone family for dinner were babies and parents, and tonight he was getting both.
At all of four days old, Tyler Stone was making ample impact on the dozen or so family members gathered together. For something not much bigger than a Kleenex box, the kid had everyone jumping when he so much as squeaked.
In other words, he was a typical baby—the world revolved around him, and Josiah had zero problems with it.
The parent bit of the equation, aka, Lisa’s dad, took up a whole lot more mental room and, unlike Tyler, nobody seemed to quite know how to deal with the man.
He’d already been in the house when Josiah arrived, and Lisa hurried to introduce them.
George Coleman stepped forward, hand stretched forward in greeting. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, and congratulations on becoming a grandpa. Again,” Josiah added quickly, in light of the girls Tamara had adopted.
George stuttered for a second, as if not quite believing it. A small smile crossed his face. “Appreciate it.”
“Grampa George has already been shortened to Geegee,” Lisa informed him. “I won twenty bucks calling that, by the way.”
“Of course you did.”
She grinned as she relieved him of the bag he held in his left hand. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He glanced at George then at her sisters and brother-in-law, who were milling around the room, not quite certain if he was brave enough to kiss her in front of them all.
Her lips twitched. “Go rescue Ollie. She’s been complaining ever since we closed the door.”
He followed her pointing finger to the laundry room. “Was she acting up?”
Lisa shook her head. “I’ll explain later.”
He gave Ollie a hello and a treat from his pocket before warning her to be good and closing the door again.
Josiah washed his hands, then joined the family, and after they’d all settled at the table, he waited for his friend to follow tradition and serve up the meal.
The little girls chattered, grown-ups shared stories. Tyler got passed around like the football in a rugby match to give everyone a chance to eat.
Josiah found himself frequently being stared at by George Coleman. He couldn’t remember exactly what Lisa had said when she’d introduced him, and now that the moment passed, it seemed awkward to back up and formally announce they were dating.
Awkward. Very awkward.
“Julia wants to know if she can come over tomorrow. She’s got the afternoon off.” Lisa glanced at Karen who had Tyler braced against her chest and was eating one-handed like a pro. “You plan to stick around for a couple of days?”
“Yes.” Karen faced their father. “As long as that’s okay with you.”
George waved a hand. “Of course it’s fine. I’ll take care of things. The Moonshine boys offered to come out and help deal with that pole shed that needs to be shored up.”
Karen’s face tightened, but she nodded firmly. “Good. Then I’m definitely here until the seventh. I can’t wait to see this Julia. I figure the odds of someone like her being here in Heart Falls are like winning the lottery.”
Their father frowned sternly. “Who is this person? Tamara, you’re not letting some total stranger into your home, are you?”
“Yes, Dad. I’ve been taking out advertisements, asking anyone who possibly wanted to come and invade—”
“Julia is part of the emergency team that helped deliver Tyler,” Lisa interjected. It was a smooth move to try to ease the tension that was clearly there between George and his daughters.
Not that Josiah blamed Tamara for getting snarky.
George was bristling, eyeing Caleb as if sitting in judgment. “Well, I guess that’s fine.”
Lisa’s dad was a bit of an ass, but at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt to do whatever Josiah could to try to help ease the situation. “She looks a lot like your family. That’s why the girls find it so interesting.”
“We’re wondering if Uncle Mark has kids he’s never told us about,” Karen said.
George shook his head. “He’s been away for a long time, but we’ve gotten back in touch recently. As far as I know he’s been single his whole life.”
“Julia’s mom was in Calgary for a while. It’s possible she was seeing him at one point. Or maybe the other uncle before he passed away—John?”
Another headshake of denial. “John di
dn’t go anywhere outside of Rocky Mountain House. Definitely not without Mark.”
“It’ll take some digging, but we’ll figure it out, if Julia is interested,” Tamara said. “I had to do DNA testing back while I was in university. If she wants, we can release the privacy on it to see if we’re actually related before we worry about anything else.”
Lisa nodded, then pulled a face. “It’s too bad we can’t ask her mom, but Sharon Blushing passed away a year ago.”
George’s fork fell from his fingers and clattered on the table, the potatoes and gravy he’d been about to put in his mouth splattering half on, half off his plate.
He grabbed a napkin and dabbed at his mouth, but his face had gone white.
“Dad?” Tamara was on her feet, pushing back from the table. “You okay?”
George shook his head, reaching for his water glass. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
But the man was not fine. Josiah laid a hand on Lisa’s leg to keep her in place before turning to catch George’s eye.
He’d gone white right down to the bone, as if shock was settling in. Something in the last moment had hit hard enough to send him nearly over the edge.
“Deep breath,” Josiah ordered. “Hold it for second then let it out as slowly as you can.”
Tamara was there, pushing her dad’s chair back. “He’s right. Focus on your breathing. Do you feel any pain? Is it your heart?”
“No. Just stop.” George had pressed his hand against his chest, but he glanced quickly across the table at Sasha and Emma, who were both watching with wide-eyed horror. “Geegee is okay,” he told them. “Just swallowed wrong. Go back to your dinner. All of you.” Their father said it forcefully, twisting away from his daughter and back to the table. If he had been having a heart attack, he was hiding it well.
When he deliberately picked up his fork and pushed it into his meatloaf, everyone started to move again.
“Lisa. My brother found a spare guitar for you. You were talking about wanting to practice.” Caleb deliberately kept his gaze off his father-in-law, but he wasn’t fooling any of the grown-ups. They were all doing their best to get to the end of the meal when the little girls could be dismissed.
At that point, George Coleman would have to either fess up or lie his ass off. Because it was all too clear when he’d reacted.
Fight or flight? From what Lisa had shared earlier about her father, and the tension in the room before everything had blown up—Josiah wasn’t sure which way it was going to go.
He stayed at Lisa’s side, stealing her fingers into his and holding on. Offering himself as an anchor.
He had no idea that getting involved with her would involve so much drama. So be it—he was the king of dramatic families, when it came right down to it. None of this could scare him away. And if he could somehow make the night a little less traumatic for her, he was on board.
They finally finished the meal, and with impeccable timing, Kelli James showed up at the door. “Knock, knock. I have two little girls I need out in the barn, stat.”
Sasha and Emma eyed their grown-ups suspiciously, but Kelli was a big temptation. “Why?” Sasha demanded.
Kelli grinned. “I’ll give you a hint. What has twenty legs and purrs?”
“Kittens,” the girls shouted, racing for their coats and boots.
“That was convenient,” Josiah whispered toward Lisa.
She pushed her phone toward him and let him read her messages.
Lisa: Family emergency. Nothing wrong with Tamara or baby, but we need you to kidnap the girls in fifteen minutes.
* * *
Kelli: I’m on it.
While they were waiting for the girls to leave the room, Lisa stood and put on the kettle for coffee, but other than that there was no pretense of clearing away dishes and moving to the living room.
Tamara stared at her father. “Now that the girls are gone, what’s wrong?”
George opened his mouth then snapped it closed. “I don’t like being interrogated by my daughters in front of my son-in-law and a total stranger.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Caleb leaned back in his chair then did a good imitation of a rock. “Seems as if you’ve got something big on your plate you need to clear and if it’s going to affect Tamara, I’m not leaving her alone. Not now. Not ever.”
George glanced briefly at Josiah.
“You can pretend I’m not here, but Lisa’s going to tell me everything anyway,” Josiah said blandly. Taking a clue from Caleb, he leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. He wasn’t about to announce the not leaving her alone part, although he was sorely tempted to.
Karen spoke softly. “Dad. What’s wrong? Do you know Julia?”
“No.” Instant denial. Sincere and strong, and a little—hurt?
George pushed up from the table and marched toward the kitchen, jerking back and pacing toward the living room as if his tangled thoughts wouldn’t let him stay in one place.
“Do you know the name Sharon Blushing?” Lisa didn’t demand, she didn’t roar. She was squeezing Josiah’s fingers as if she was about to explode.
George twisted toward them, misery on his face. He nodded. A sharp, blunt motion, as if that’s all he could get out.
Then he took a deep breath, just like Josiah had told him to. He let it out slowly, his gaze meeting each of his daughters in turn. He paused on his son-in-law and once more on Josiah. Clearly confused why he was there.
George squared his shoulders. “I don’t know Julia. I’ve never heard of her, but a long time ago I had a brief—” He swallowed. “Ah, hell. I was with this woman for about a week. Her name was Sharon Blushing, and when I said goodbye, I never heard from her again. Swear to God.”
A pin drop could’ve been heard in the room as the three women registered exactly what their father’s confession meant.
Caleb rose from his chair and met his father-in-law in the middle of the room. He placed a hand on his shoulder, and Josiah wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen.
Then like the rock he was, Caleb cut through the tension and took control.
“You’ve had a shock. We don’t know exactly what’s going on, but you deserve some time to process before anyone asks you more questions.” Caleb glanced back at the table, warning in his eyes. But Tamara nodded in response, cradling Tyler against her chest.
Caleb pushed his father-in-law toward the door. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your room.”
None of the women protested as the two of them pulled on coats and boots and left the house.
It was the strangest situation. Outside of reality, yet most definitely happening and real, and life-changing in ways no one could yet understand. A small part of Josiah wished at that moment that he too was out in the barn, innocently chasing down kittens.
The bigger part of him was so very glad he was there as Lisa squeezed his fingers and held on as if she was never letting go.
13
“Does that mean—?” Karen shook her head. “Of course, it means Julia’s probably our sister. That’s not what I’m asking.”
“How old is Julia?” Tamara asked.
“That’s my actual question,” Karen said.
“Twenty-five.” Lisa was tapping her fingers on the countertop. Counting. When she glanced up there was relief in her eyes. “Young enough that our mom was already dead when Julia was conceived.”
All three of them relaxed like wilting balloons.
At her side, Josiah shifted until his hand could slide around her waist. “Are you guys okay? I mean, as okay as you can be? And if you want me to leave, let me know.”
Karen waved off that suggestion. “Forget it. It’s not as if you’re getting information that won’t be out on the street in a short while. Seriously, Dad had an affair?”
“Not that my brain wants to go there at all, but he is a guy. Mom would’ve been dead for at least a year.” Lisa glanced at Josiah. “Mom rolled a tractor. I was about one, so I don’t really
remember her.”
“Neither of us remember her that well, either,” Tamara said. “I mean, things we think are memories might just be our imagination, or stories we were told by others.”
Silence fell again, all of them staring at the table, lost in thought.
Josiah shot to his feet. “You’ve had a shock, which means you need to do the next thing. I’ll clean the table, but someone should probably help me or your leftovers will end up in strange places.”
Lisa was beside him, punching him lightly on the shoulder as she led him toward the kitchen. “You’re right. This isn’t life-and-death. Julia seems like a nice enough person.”
“A nice enough person who’s about to get her mind blown,” Tamara said, moving to the couch as Tyler chose that moment to begin to fuss. “You need to warn her,” she told Lisa.
“Agreed.” Karen joined them, working easily as they let Tamara deal with the baby. They cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and dining room. “I know it’s fast and we should ask Dad how he feels about it, but if he can handle it, it might be good to get us all in a room together.”
Josiah stayed quiet while the girls continued to talk. He kept an eye on all of them, checking expressions, but especially watching Lisa.
Other than being completely perplexed at times, she seemed to have bounced back. As the girls had said, it wasn’t a terrible thing. Possibly not even as shocking for them as it would be for Julia. The other woman had admitted she didn’t have a lot of family. Being thrust into a new mix might be more than she wanted.
Lisa was quieter than usual.
Ollie had snuck into the room and was ricocheting between him and Lisa, side-eyeing them as if to complain about the shut door she’d had to put up with for the last couple of hours.
