Howie had no sooner pulled out of the driveway when Granny Em walked out onto the porch. She was still wearing her vampire cape and had likely been watching from the window. That cape swirled in the breeze as she came toward them. Not scowling or angry. Granny Em was all smiles.
That worried McCall even more than a scowl would have.
“I know how to fix this,” Em announced. “I can throw a party. A big one for everyone in town.”
Oh, God. McCall groaned, but the groan didn’t put Granny Em off one bit. She kept on smiling.
“Just give me a day or two,” Em added, sounding very pleased with herself. “And I’ll have everything worked out. You two will be saying those ‘I do’s’ before you know it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“BA-OONS,” AVERY ANNOUNCED the moment Austin pulled to a stop in Em’s driveway.
Yep, there were indeed balloons. Dozens of them tied to anything that could be used to tie them down. The Mylars floated, sagged, bobbed and bopped with each gust of wind.
Em or whoever had done the decorating obviously hadn’t been picky about the choice of balloons. Some had cartoon figures, superheroes, dinosaurs and even a disturbing grinning witch with a hairy wart on her chin. At least a dozen of them said Happy Birthday. Others had Get Well Soon, Happy Anniversary, Congrats, I’m Sorry, Thank You, It’s a Boy and Enjoy Your Retirement. One announced a tire sale at Big Bob’s.
Apparently, Em was covering all celebratory bases for this shindig.
Austin had a bad feeling about this. Of course, he rarely had good feelings about any of Em’s plans, and this one was no different. That’s why for the last two days he’d actually tried to tap into the gossip mill to try to learn what she was up to with this party, but that tapping had turned out to be a lousy idea. The speculation he’d heard was worse than what Em’s plan would actually be.
He hoped.
According to the gossips, Em was plotting some kind of revenge against Edith. Maybe like the pig’s blood scene from Carrie. Or that Em was using those mob connections she’d recently spilled to have Edith threatened in The Godfather kind of way. Austin had heard way too many “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” variations.
Since the gossips hadn’t been at Em’s to actually hear what the woman had said to McCall and him, the gossips hadn’t pushed into the area of any “I do” possibilities. But that had been a biggie in what Em had promised. Or threatened.
Just give me a day or two, and I’ll have everything worked out. Austin and you will be saying those “I do’s” before you know it.
Austin wanted those “I do’s.” Maybe not right away. But he wanted that somewhere down the line for McCall and him. What he didn’t want was Em doing anything to try to hurry that along. A scheme like that could send McCall running, and that was the last thing Austin wanted.
Ditto for some kind of public humiliation for Edith.
After all, with Em inviting the whole town, it meant kids would be there. Including his own kids. And Austin didn’t want them to witness their grandmother being taken down a notch. Even if that’s something Austin wouldn’t have minded happening.
Austin parked on the side of the house with the family vehicles, making sure he left enough room if he had to make a fast exit with the girls. According to the instructions Em had given him, he was to arrive an hour before the start of the party, and he considered that a good thing. This way, he could suss out Em’s intentions, check on McCall and if necessary get Avery and Gracie out of there.
Of course, McCall wouldn’t stand for the girls being exposed to something that would hurt them. Especially something like their grandmother’s public humiliation.
Austin got out with the girls, and while keeping a good grip on their hands, they made their way to the backyard where he saw rows of picnic tables set up. There were also of couple of tents, a bouncy castle and several large barrel grills that looked ready to go. So, the party would be a picnic, but thankfully there was no banner announcing engagement plans for McCall and him.
Avery and Gracie squealed when they saw the bouncy castle or maybe their reaction was also for McCall, who was coming out of it. Her haired was mussed, her face a little flushed and she was smiling. Considering that she was also barefooted, Austin guessed that she’d been doing some bouncing.
Her smile did a lot to ease some of that bad feeling. Maybe there was nothing to worry about, after all.
“I couldn’t resist trying it out,” McCall said, stepping down from the inflated castle.
The girls bolted toward her, and she did a scooping spin, whirling them around once she had them in her arms. “Do you want to jump?” she asked them, and got the fastest answers in the history of fast answers.
“Yes!” the girls squealed. The moment McCall stood them on the ground, they started taking off their shoes.
“Want to jump?” she offered to Austin.
Because she looked so happy, Austin would have agreed to pretty much anything. He sat down on the bench outside the castle and started shucking off his boots. The twins finished ahead of him and darted inside.
“So, Em’s party really is only a party?” Austin asked.
McCall shrugged, and he hated that her smile faded. “She says it’s just a way of bringing together the town.”
“And you believe her?” he pressed.
“No, but she won’t spill. I do know she invited some of the big donors for Saddle Up for Tots. I have no idea if they’ll come.” McCall paused. “She also invited Howie and Edith.”
Austin got that flash of Carrie and The Godfather. He really did need to have a chat with Em before the party started.
“Granny Em’s in the kitchen,” McCall said as if reading his mind. “The party’s a pot luck, and the volunteer firemen will be manning the grills, but Boo and she are fixing some things.”
“Not Hadley?” he asked.
McCall shook her head. “She went back to California this morning.”
“I’m sorry.” Austin stood, pulling her to him. In part to comfort her. In part because he just wanted her in his arms. Things always seemed a lot better when he was holding McCall.
She didn’t resist and seemed to melt against him, definitely taking some comfort. “If this party takes a wrong turn,” she whispered, “I’ve set up some playthings and books for the girls in my bedroom. You can take them there if you need to leave in a hurry.”
Austin eased back, looked at her. “And that’s one of the reasons I’m in love with you. You always think of my girls.”
The flush on her face returned, but she kissed him, and the kiss might have lasted longer had Avery and Gracie not started squealing. Not from pain. Austin would have picked up on that. No, this squealing was no doubt from having their little bodies flung and hopped around in the castle.
Taking hold of McCall’s hand, he stepped inside. Not easily. You’d think since he was a cowboy that he had a good balance, but he learned differently when he went down—and bounced on his butt.
Since he still had hold of McCall, she went right down with him, their bodies bumping together in a nice way. Chest to breasts. It would have been even nicer if they’d been alone and could have done more. That made him wonder just how many times people had had sex in a contraption like this. Maybe McCall and he could sneak back in here after the party finished.
“Jump high!” Avery insisted, and she showed them how it was done. She fell and bounced, too, into Gracie, causing the girls to giggle.
The giggling went up a notch when Austin took hold of McCall’s waist and jumped together with her. Of course, the girls wanted to get in on that, probably because it lifted them higher, and soon they were all in a sweaty, out of breath mess. A sweaty, out of breath mess having fun.
Man, he was lucky. Even with all the crap Edith was trying to pull, yeah, he was lucky.
“W
oohoo?” Em said, stepping into the castle with them. Like them, the woman wasn’t wearing shoes, and she made a wobbly walk toward them. Then she started bouncing. “I knew this would be fun. The whole party will be fun.”
Austin and McCall shared a glance, and McCall bounced her way closer to Em. “I don’t want this to be an engagement party,” McCall insisted. She kept her voice low, but if the girls stopped giggling for even a second, they’d be able to hear her.
Granny Em either nodded or her head bobbled when she jumped. Austin couldn’t be sure which. “Because you haven’t told Austin you’ll marry him,” Em supplied. “Have you?” she added a moment later.
McCall certainly wasn’t giggling. “No.”
Austin wanted more. Actually, he wanted a yes, but he understood that McCall wanted more time. He just hoped she didn’t take too long.
“If this isn’t an engagement party, then what is it?” McCall asked.
Again, Austin had trouble interpreting the jiggling of Em’s shoulder, but it was possibly a shrug. “I thought we could celebrate, uh, the future.”
He saw the instant suspicion in McCall’s eyes and was sure it was in his, as well.
“The future,” Em repeated. “Because soon Sunny will be pregnant if she isn’t already. Soon, the papers for Kinsley’s custody will go through. And soon you’ll have money pouring into the foundation.” She paused and grinned when she looked at the girls. “We can celebrate the pony, too. Did you two decide on a name for him?”
“Rose Poopy-head,” the girls immediately answered.
“Excellent choice,” Em declared even though it wasn’t. Still, both girls seemed satisfied with the name, and it wasn’t always easy to come up with a compromise.
“What do you mean about money pouring into the foundation?” McCall asked.
Again, it was possible Granny Em shrugged. “I set up a big donation jar on the front porch. I told folks that it was going to be an interesting party what with all the stuff going on, and that the price of admission was donations to Saddle Up.”
McCall groaned, but she didn’t spell out that it sounded a little like blackmail. Or selling tickets to a spectacle. Especially since most of those folks wouldn’t be able to resist seeing how things played out between Edith and him.
“I also called in a few favors,” Em went on. “I reminded the business owners of how much money they made when Little Cowgirls was being filmed here. Heck, Breakfast at Tiffany’s made out like a bandit. I just said how nice it’d be if folks gave some money to a good cause. A cause that doesn’t have any secrets. Unlike Little Cowgirls.”
That sounded a little like a guilt trip or maybe even extortion if Granny Em had suggested she might verify a secret or two. Like the owner of the Breakfast at Tiffany’s café had fooled around with one of the Little Cowgirls’ cameramen.
“Cody Joe’s mom won’t be coming,” Em went on a moment later, obviously not speaking to the girls now. Considering her age, Em was a darn good jumper. “But she called, and I suggested she could still make a donation. I explained that I thought it’d make her look as if she’s climbed above the fray. Then I reminded her that everybody was talking about how the fray was of her own son’s making.”
McCall didn’t groan again, but Austin suspected that was because she knew it wouldn’t do any good.
“Anyway, Alisha said she’d consider a donation,” Em added.
The woman might just pony up some money, and if so, that would not only be good for the foundation but also for McCall. She might finally be able to start putting that whole Cody Joe fiasco behind her.
“So, you’ll swear to me that you won’t bring up Austin’s marriage proposal?” McCall pressed Granny Em.
“Nary a word about it,” Em assured. “Can’t guarantee that others won’t, but you’ll not hear it from my lips.” Em smiled with those nary a word lips and bounced her way out of the castle.
McCall glanced over at the girls, who were in the process of running headfirst into the castle walls and giggling like mental patients when they fell back on their butts.
“Any news on the custody papers?” McCall asked him while the girls were occupied.
Austin hated to put a damper on things, but he didn’t want to keep this from her. “Edith is proceeding. I’ve had to hire a lawyer from San Antonio since Rick’s representing her.”
Austin felt exactly what he expected to feel. The anger. It came in waves any time he thought about it, which was often. This was going to cost him time and money to fight, but the worst was the emotional toll.
“I’m so sorry,” McCall said. Her footing was wobbly, but she still managed to get her arms around him. “I wish there was something I could do to stop this.”
He brushed a kiss on her mouth and knew that was true. McCall would do anything—including not saying yes to his proposal—if she thought it would help.
“The custody hearing will have to go before a judge,” Austin added. “And my lawyer thinks the judge will either throw out the petition or else ask us to go to mediation.”
In other words, talk. Something that wouldn’t help because Edith had dug in her heels. So had he.
“We don’t want cussody,” he heard Avery said.
Austin silently cursed. Obviously, the girls hadn’t been as occupied as he’d thought. He turned toward them and saw that Gracie and Avery had both stopped bouncing. Stopped giggling, too. And his daughters were looking at him with very concerned eyes.
“We don’t want cussody,” Gracie repeated.
There was no way Austin could stay on his feet and pick them up so he sat down and motioned for them to come to him. They did, falling into his lap, and the motion sent McCall tumbling down beside them.
“Peeze don’t make us go with Grandma Edith,” Avery said, issuing her plea first to Austin and then to McCall.
“I’m going to try to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Austin assured her. That started a group hug, which they all needed, and he made sure McCall was in on it.
“We love you,” Gracie said as if she had to convince them. “We love McCall. We don’t wanta go with Grandma.”
Obviously, the hug hadn’t given her any reassurance, and Austin wasn’t sure he could do that with words, either. Still, he had to try. It crushed his heart to see his girls upset.
“I love you, too,” Austin said.
“So do I,” McCall added.
“And we don’t want you to worry about custody,” Austin added. “We want you to have fun. This is a party, remember. We’ve got to celebrate naming the pony.”
Clearly, that still wasn’t working. The girls weren’t bouncing and they sure as heck weren’t smiling.
“Say, I saw a couple of cakes in the kitchen,” McCall said. She was attempting a smile and pulling it off. “How about we sneak some before the party starts?”
With the girls’ collective nods and “Yays,” there went their dark mood. He wished his own mood could be fixed with sugar and fat.
They stood, again not easily. McCall helped up Avery. He helped up Gracie. But they hadn’t even made it a step when Austin saw Edith standing in the castle entry. Her grave expression and church clothes didn’t mesh with the cheery blown-up surroundings.
“We don’t want cussody,” Avery said. Not a shout. But a whisper. And she moved behind McCall, holding on to her as if she were an anchor.
“Peaze, no cussody,” Gracie contributed, moving behind Austin.
Edith probably thought he’d put them up to saying that, but he hoped like the devil that the woman could see what she was doing to the girls.
“Please,” McCall repeated. “No custody.”
Well, heck. Austin joined in on that chorus, too, but he simply said, “Please.”
Edith stood there, staring at them and saying nothing. Not anything verbal, anyway. But Austin could se
e that she was blinking back tears and that her mouth was no longer set in such a firm line. Her lips were quivering a little.
“No custody,” Edith finally said.
Because Austin truly hadn’t expected her to say that, he didn’t respond. Neither did McCall or the girls. Not at first, anyway. Then, as if they’d just been given eight pieces of cake, Avery and Gracie started cheering and bouncing again.
Edith didn’t go to them, but she managed a smile with her trembling mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just didn’t want the girls to forget their mother. I don’t want you to forget her.”
Austin had to force down the lump in his throat. “I won’t. Zoey gave me two beautiful kids, and I see her every time I look at them.”
“You can live with that?” Edith asked, and then shifted her attention to McCall. “You can live with the man you love seeing another woman in his children’s faces?”
“Absolutely,” McCall said without hesitation. “Because I see the same thing when I look at them. They’re my friend’s daughters. And the daughters of the man I love. How could I not love them, too?”
Austin got another lump in his throat. And a very warm feeling in the center of his chest. McCall had already told him that she loved him, but it felt good to have it all rolled together like this. The timing was perfect.
Well, perfect-ish.
He’d already talked to the girls about this and had gotten their enthusiastic approval to proceed.
He reached in his pocket and took out the box. He flipped it open to reveal the diamond engagement ring just as he went down on one knee. That last part failed. Hard to do a knee proposal on a bouncy surface, and he landed on his butt again.
“Yay!” the girls yelled. They landed next to Austin and pulled McCall down with them. “Will you marry us?” Avery asked.
This was it. The showdown of sorts. If McCall said what he wanted her to say—yes!—then it would take the ish out of perfect-ish. And it would hopefully have Edith see just how happy this would make him and the girls.
“Will you marry us?” Gracie repeated.
Chasing Trouble in Texas Page 26
