“I know, I know. It’s just that—”
The sound of running feet broke Olivia’s concentration.
“Momma?” Adam’s voice echoed in the living room.
Olivia released a sigh of relief.
“Back here, Adam. The kitchen.”
Adam’s tennis shoes squeaked on the tile as he skid to a stop in front of her. “Momma. Guess what I did?”
Olivia motioned for him to follow her to the breakfast nook where she could sit down. “Now, tell me what you did.”
“I helped Mitch drag a dead cow down a hill. We’re going to let all the wild animals eat it. Mitch said it wouldn’t be any good anymore for people. Mitch said it would feed lots of different animals.”
Olivia brushed Adam’s sweaty hair off his flushed face. “Did he?”
“Uh huh. And Mitch said I was a lot of help.”
“That you were, buddy. Lots of help.”
Olivia glanced from Adam’s glowing smile to Mitch’s grin. Her heart stuttered. It was as though she were looking at Adam thirty years from now.
“Yeah,” Adam said, pulling her attention back to him. “Mitch said that I really needed some cowboy boots like all the other cowboys have.” He held up one foot and looked at it disgustedly. “Tennis shoes are not right.”
“Well, you have some boots, remember? You left them at Uncle Travis’s house.”
“Well, I need some here too. Mitch said cowboys don’t wear tennis shoes.”
“I see.” Olivia bit the inside of her bottom lip to keep from smiling.
“Yeah. And I need cowboy pants too.”
“Cowboy pants?” She glanced toward Mitch, who’d continued standing in the kitchen doorway watching her and Adam. “Umm, what are cowboy pants?”
Mitch turned around and pointed to his butt. Too busy admiring the shape and firmness of Mitch’s rear, she missed the name of the brand.
When he turned back around, she cleared her throat. “Ah’hm. I couldn’t read it from here.”
“Wrangler,” Mitch said.
“Yeah,” Adam said. “I need real cowboy pants. Not these sissy shorts.”
Olivia glared at Mitch. “Sissy shorts?”
He shrugged and held up two hands. “I didn’t say it. Talk to Hobbs.”
Magda snorted.
“You don’t have sissy shorts. These are a perfectly good pair of khaki shorts.”
“And I need some chapstick to cover my legs.”
Mitch laughed. “I think you mean chaps.”
Adam looked toward Mitch. “That’s what I said. Chapstick.” He turned toward his mother again. “Mitch said that I need to protect my legs when I ride a horse tomorrow.”
“Excuse me?” Olivia snapped her gaze toward Mitch. “Horseback riding?” This time he gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged.
“Mitch and me are moving some cows tomorrow morning. He needs my help.”
“Really? I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, honey.” A little seed of fear sprouted in her gut. She wasn’t ready to ride again. And if Adam went, then…
Her little boy was too young to ride a horse on a cattle round-up, except he had ridden before with her brother, but Travis wasn’t Mitch. Her brother knew how to protect her child. She continued to glare in Mitch’s direction. “Mitch, I think as his mother this is something you should have discussed with me.”
Mitch strode toward them then draped his arm around Adam’s shoulders. “Hobbs mentioned moving cattle first thing in the morning and this cowboy volunteered to help. I told him we needed all the help we could get.”
“Mitch, I don’t think—”
Adam whirled toward her, dislodging Mitch’s arm. “Momma. I have to help. Mitch needs me. He said so.”
Mitch crossed his arms and watched the mother-son interaction with a hint of a grin.
“Oh, Adam. I’m sure Mitch can do this without your help.”
Adam crossed his arms in a defiant stance. She had to admit he was his father’s clone in looks and actions.
“Mitch said I could help and I want to.”
She pulled Adam close and hugged his stiff body. “I know, buddy, but tomorrow Mitch won’t be in his truck. Right, Mitch? You’ll be on horseback?”
“Right.”
“So, you see—”
Adam pushed away from her embrace. “I know how to ride.” Frustration tinted Adam’s voice. “Uncle Travis always lets me ride Patches at his ranch.”
Olivia sighed. Her brother strikes again. Patches was a Shetland pony that had to be older than dirt and wouldn’t move faster than a slow walk, not exactly the same as a cutting horse working cattle. She opened her mouth but Mitch cut her off.
“He’ll ride with me, Olivia. He’ll be fine.” When she lifted her head to argue, he shook his head. “Trust me. Nothing will happen.”
“Yeah, Momma. Nothing will happen.”
Olivia decided to try a different tactic to dissuade Adam. Actually more like a bribe than persuasion. “What about cowboy pants and cowboy boots? Wouldn’t you rather wait until you get those?”
Adam hopped from one foot to the other. “Nope. Don’t have to. Gettin’ ’em tonight.”
Olivia glanced at Mitch. “What is he talking about?”
Mitch’s face turned red. “Well, um, you see…”
“Hello? Where is everyone?” a female voice called from the front door. “Mitch?”
Olivia’s brow furrowed into a deep frown of disapproval. She knew that voice.
Mitch at least had the dignity to look embarrassed. “In the kitchen, Joanna.”
“Hey, Adam.” Magda walked over to the threesome at the table. “Can you give me a hand for a minute?” She put her hand on Adam’s shoulder and turned him toward the laundry room. “I need to get something and I need a strong guy to help.”
“Sure.” Adam looked at Olivia. “I need to help Magda, okay?”
“Of course.”
Magda took Adam’s hand and led him from the kitchen.
Olivia waited until Adam was gone to light into Mitch. “Did you ask your ex-wife to buy clothes for my son? How dare you? I can buy him whatever he needs. I don’t need you or—”
“There y’all are.” Joanna flounced into the breakfast nook, shopping bags hanging from her wrists. “Look who I ran into today.”
Mitch’s mother followed Joanna into the kitchen. “Hi, Olivia. Mitch.” She came to the table and hugged Olivia. “It’s so good to see you again, Olivia.” She scrunched up her face when she eyed Olivia’s wrapped ankle. “Heard about the ankle and knee. How are you doing?”
“Hi, Sylvia.” Olivia returned the hug. Olivia was sincerely glad to see Mitch’s mother. She had always been warm and kind to Olivia. “I’m healing much faster than the doctor predicted. I’m sure I’ll be up and back home very soon.”
“Lookie here,” Joanna crowed, drawing all attention to her. She was almost bouncing on her toes in excitement. Her face glowed with glee as she poured out four pairs of small jeans from one sack. The second held small cowboy shirts with snap openings and six pairs of white socks. From the last, two shoeboxes plopped onto the table. “Thank you, Sylvia, for asking me to help shopping for your…Adam. He is darling. Why, you must be thrilled that he looks so much—”
“Like his mother,” Sylvia interjected.
While wanting to hug Sylvia for cutting Joanna off, Olivia had to restrain herself from clunking Joanna over the head with her crutch. She ground her teeth. How dare they? She could believe Mitch would fall for Joanna’s act, but Sylvia too?
“Get this…this…stuff out of here before Adam sees it.” Olivia began scooping the clothes back into sacks. “I can provide for my son just fine.”
“What’s your problem, Olivia?” Joanna flipped her hair over her shoulder. “It’s obvious Mitch is Adam’s father. He has every right to buy something for Adam if he wants to.”
Olivia uttered a vile curse under her breath, which apparently didn’t work as Joanna wa
s still breathing.
“Joanna. That’s enough,” Sylvia said.
Joanna’s mouth closed, her lips pulling tight across her teeth.
“Olivia.” Sylvia squeezed Olivia’s shoulder. “Joanna didn’t buy any of this. I did. Don’t blame Mitch. It was my idea. If you want to be mad at someone, it’s me.”
Being angry with Sylvia wasn’t possible. Mitch’s mother had been a tower of strength for her. Supportive. Loving. Accepting. Olivia felt her anger tide ebbing.
“I could never be mad at you, Sylvia.” She eyed the boot boxes and clothes again. “You did this?”
“Guilty as charged, I’m afraid.”
“Right, so don’t get all huffy with me.” Joanna tossed her hair around again and tried to appear the injured party.
“Joanna, dear, I promised your mother you would only drop me off and then you’d be on your way. Something about dinner plans.”
“Oh, that’s right. Daddy and Mummy are hosting a small dinner party at the club for some of Daddy’s clients.” She tapped her forehead gently. “I have to go.” She turned and said over her shoulder, “Mitch, be a dear and walk me out.”
As soon as Joanna and Mitch left the room, Sylvia rolled her eyes. “I do not understand what either of my boys saw in that girl.”
Olivia stifled a grin. “Where’s your car?”
Sylvia pulled out a chair and sat. “It was making a strange noise and I left it at the dealership to have it checked out. I ran into Joanna at the mall and she insisted on driving me around.” She sighed. “I should have gotten a rental car like I’d planned.” She leaned over and patted Olivia’s hand. “You know, dear, that I would never do anything to upset you. I talked to Mitch today and he told me you were here with your son. Of course, your mother had already called, but I didn’t tell him. When he mentioned getting Adam some boots, well, I guess I just went a little overboard.”
Olivia smiled. “You have always spoiled him.”
Sylvia shrugged. “What can I say? You’re right. Plus—” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “I believe one of those boot boxes might be in your size.”
Olivia pulled the Lucchese box toward her. “You shouldn’t have done this, Sylvia. These are much too expensive.”
“Pfft. My money. I can do what I want with it.”
Olivia pulled out a pair of leather black and brown cowboy boots with a hand-tooled design. “Oh, Sylvia. They’re beautiful.” She leaned over, removed her tennis shoe, and slipped on the right boot. Straightening out her leg, she rotated her foot side to side to get the full effect of boot on her foot. “I should make you take these back.”
“But you won’t.”
Olivia studied the boot for a minute and smiled. “Nope. I’m keeping them.”
“And they are meant to be used for riding, not just wearing around the house.”
The smile dropped from Olivia’s face.
“Olivia, it’s time to get back on the horse, so to speak. It was a freak accident.”
“Maybe, but—”
“Hey! Women! There’re hungry cowboys in the house,” Mitch growled as he came back into the kitchen, Adam riding on his shoulders. “Feed us.”
“Yeah, feed us,” Adam echoed then howled with laughter.
“If you hungry cowboys would get out of the way, I’ll get dinner finished,” Magda said, pushing past Mitch and Adam.
Adam giggled. When his gaze fell on Mitch’s mother, his face lit up like the sun. “Nana SuSu,” he cried. He wiggled to get off Mitch’s shoulders. As soon as his feet hit the floor, he ran over to Mitch’s mother and wrapped his arms around her knees.
“Hey, Adam.” Sylvia bent and kissed his cheek. “Look how big you’re getting.”
“I know.” Adam’s chest puffed out. “Hey, did you know I’m gonna ride a horse tomorrow with Mitch?”
“Look what she brought you today, Adam. What do you say?” Olivia prompted.
Adam eyes opened wide and his mouth stretched into a wide grin. “Cowboy boots! Thanks, Nana SuSu.” He hopped around on one foot. “Mitch! Mitch! Look!”
“I see,” Mitch said. “Isn’t Nana SuSu just full of surprises?”
“You know Nana SuSu?” Adam asked.
Olivia turned Adam toward her. “You know how you’re my little boy?” Adam nodded. “Well, Mitch is Nana SuSu’s little boy.”
“Mitch’s momma?”
“Right.”
Adam seemed to think about this, then said, “Okay. Now can I try on my boots?”
Mitch’s stance was rigid and defiant. His face bloomed into a blotchy red mask. Anger radiated like heat from his body. The only person in the room who didn’t seem to notice was Adam, whose interest was focused totally on his boots, and for that, Olivia gave a silent thanks.
Sylvia looked at Olivia with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. She gave an almost imperceptible shrug before turning her gaze toward Mitch. “Well, I’d better get going. Mitch, dear, I need to borrow your extra truck. I’ll have Dad run it back tomorrow. Okay?”
Mitch turned his head but not his body toward his mother. “Fine. No, wait. Better yet, why don’t I drive you home? Apparently, it’s been too long since we’ve had a nice long talk.”
She gave a nervous laugh. “No, no. You have houseguests. I’ll just run along.” She smiled. “I’m assuming your keys are still hanging on the key rack by the garage door, right?”
“That’s right, Mrs. L. The keys are there,” Magda said over her shoulder as she slid a roast out of the oven.
“Stay for dinner, Nana SuSu,” Mitch said, his tone conveying more a demand than a request.
“I can’t, dear. You know how your father is about his dinner. Plus, it’s your dad’s poker night. Our time to host, so I’d better run and get the house ready for cigar smoke.” She hugged Adam and gave him another cheek kiss. “Be good. I’ll talk to you later, Olivia.”
“Okay. Later.” Olivia was helping Adam put on his new boots. “Tell Nana SuSu thank you for your boots and clothes.”
Adam stomped his feet, imitating a cowboy knocking mud off his boots. “Thanks, Nana SuSu.”
Sylvia Landry waved over her shoulder as she hurried from the room.
“Dinner’s ready,” Magda announced. “Hey Adam, give me a hand and carry these napkins to the table.”
Adam galloped across the kitchen, the hard soles of his boots clacking on the tile.
“I have some work to do,” Mitch said. “I’ll grab something later. Right now, I seem to have lost my appetite.”
He left the room in the same direction his mother had just taken.
“Don’t worry,” Magda said to Olivia as she placed the sliced roast beef on the table. “He’ll come around.”
Olivia smiled. “I’m not worried.” Adam handed her an empty plate. “As long as my little guy is fine, I’m fine. We’re a team, right, Adam?”
“Right.”
Mitch stormed after his mother…or rather Nana SuSu. His mother knew about Adam. Had known about Adam. Had met his son and never told him. Nausea roiled through his gut. His left eye twitched with the headache building behind it.
He reached the garage as his mother was lowering the garage door. He slammed his fist on the automatic opener on the wall to stop then reverse the door.
“Come back here,” he yelled.
His mother waved as she pulled away.
“Coward.”
Several hours and many shots of bourbon later, Mitch headed out of his temporary bedroom onto a balcony overlooking the covered patio, pool and whirlpool at the rear of his house. The night air was crisp and relatively mosquito-free for a change. Killer heat and the millions of bugs that drove sane people indoors were still a couple of months away. Sage and pine scented the air. He drew in a deep breath and stretched his neck, working the tension out. Spring had always been his favorite time of the year. This year, the season had delivered its fair share of surprises, and right now he wasn’t sure how he felt about them.
> He took the chair closest to the balcony railing, set his most recent drink on the table and lit up a cigar. It’d been quite a while since he’d smoked one, but dammit, he needed something to do with his hands besides wrap them around Olivia’s neck…or her waist…or her hips as he drove inside her.
He blew out a long stream of smoke. Apathy toward Olivia had never been his problem. From the day they’d met in college, he’d wanted her. How was it possible he could love a woman so much, crave her touch to the point it was painful, and at the same time wish he’d never met her?
No, that wasn’t true. He’d wanted her in college and damn if he didn’t still want her now. His desire for her hadn’t abated in the least.
The inky sky was alight with stars, the occasional plane and a firefly or two. There was barely a breeze in the air. He settled back in the chair to think about Adam and Olivia and the stunning realization that his mother knew about Adam, and apparently had for some time.
Of course, if his mother knew, his father did, too. As far as he knew, there were no secrets between his parents. What astonished him was that his parents had been able to keep Adam a secret, which also made him furious. How dare they all decide that he didn’t need to know about his son.
But you married someone else, his subconscious rumbled. Was it possible, even in the slightest, that they thought they were doing the right thing for him? Did everyone believe Joanna would be so unforgiving that if she’d learned of Adam, she’d have taken it out on the child?
He had to admit that he wasn’t sure he would have married Joanna if he’d known about Olivia’s pregnancy. He probably would have asked Olivia to marry him, but it would have been for all the wrong reasons. If he and Olivia had wed, it would have been a marriage founded on a pregnancy, not a union rooted in the concept that they couldn’t live without each other. That’s what he wanted…a marriage rooted in devotion and love rather than obligation.
The pain from that insight tore at his gut. His head dropped to the back of the chair. Six years ago, he’d been so full of himself. Sure he was going to set the world on fire. Then with James’s death, Joanna’s pregnancy, their marriage and her subsequent miscarriage, his whole life had changed. Nothing had turned out quite as he’d envisioned.
Texas Two Step: Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 1 Page 14
