by Heidi Hormel
She saw his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. She wanted to kiss that neck and rub the tension out of his shoulders. “I know our agreement doesn’t cover this.” When she saw his mouth open, she pinched the back of his hand. “Listen to me, and stop saying stupid things. You know I didn’t grow up in a real family.” She tightened her hold again when he tried to open his mouth. “I told you to stop talking. I had to raise my sisters, more or less. There was never enough money or love. We were scared a lot of the time. I promised myself I’d never get caught in a situation like that when I grew up. Then I went to that darned wedding, and you really are very good at persuading people to your point of view. And, here we are, with two kids, a ranch, horses and a marriage. We’re kind of stuck together.”
“Stuck? Some people would say that families love each other.”
“Well, sticking it out is loving each other.” Her heart fluttered as she groped for words and tried to ignore her sweating palms.
“You’ve said that you love me when...well, you know. Are you saying now it’s only because there’s no choice?”
Olympia looked at his face, at his dusty-blue eyes. The dark circles made her want to fold him in her arms, but the dimple that hid in his cheek made her want to kiss him silly. “What about you? You’ve probably been thinking with the little...you know—” She looked down at his lap.
“First, no man likes his pleasure machine referred to as little.” That startled a laugh out of her. “I know we started out with a contract and an end-by date, but somewhere along the way, I just went and fell in love with you, darlin’. Just like I told you.” He smiled sweetly at her. “I don’t feel stuck. I feel free. Free because I know that you love me, right? You said it, and you can’t take it back—even if some days you’ll forget that—and I know I love you. We’re a team, a pair. We’re like Dale Evans and Roy Rogers.”
He was right. That fluttery feeling was love and freedom. How could that be, when her whole life she’d run away from love and responsibility to get free? He laced his fingers through hers, his beloved face hollowing out more under his cheeks. He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, his eyes bright with tears, even under the crappy hospital lighting. She said, “Kiss me for real. I never got one when we said, ‘I do.’” She saw his dimple just before his mouth locked on hers. Finally, she was free.
Chapter Seventeen
Four weeks. Olympia had been a mom for four weeks. Although Spence said that was wrong because she’d taken on Cal months ago and that counted. She had to agree. Her Cal-boy had wormed his way into her heart just like that darned Muffin, who was staying on with them despite his lack of manners and his unnatural love of butter-rum pastries. She heard Peanut’s breathing change as the baby squirmed but didn’t wake.
Spence paced as he talked on the phone with his brother. “Audie doesn’t cry enough. I want you to fly here and check her out. Her pediatrician’s an idiot.”
He looked hot. Just thinking about sex should have been impossible, considering what had happened a month ago and that she walked around the house like a zombie half of the time because she got so little sleep. Still, the sight of Spence sleeping beside her, the surprisingly dark lashes against his lean cheeks, just made her heart sing and her other places happy, too. Olympia ignored Spence and went back to the paperwork. Soon she’d be Cal’s legal guardian, responsible for him in a more than an I-married-your-dad way. Olympia couldn’t adopt Cal outright, but this was close. Her hand trembled a little as she signed her name. Yep. She hadn’t wanted to be a mom. Hadn’t wanted anything but the rodeo. Now—
“Damn it,” Spence said with heat and just a hint of fear.
Olympia tensed. Her mothering hormones—or whatever they were—told her whoever was on the other end of the line was going to get an earful. Peanut writhed, also tuned in to her daddy’s every mood.
Olympia watched him closely as she rocked Peanut back into sleep. Spence paced tight loops in their small, packed-with-baby-stuff bedroom. On his next loop, Olympia got a good view of his face. She immediately gathered herself and Peanut, stood and walked to him. Something really, really bad had happened. Obviously, he wasn’t still on the phone with his brother. Whoever was on the other end of the call had upset Spence. More than upset. The man quivered with anger. She reached out and touched his arm. The muscles under her hand were ironwood hard.
“I know my attorney gave you my proposal. I’m not discussing anything beyond that. Thank you for letting me know that Missy is doing well. I’ll take Calvin to see her when I think it’s appropriate. Now I’ve got to go.” He slammed the phone down on the dresser and Peanut jumped against Olympia’s shoulder.
“Shh, baby. Just Daddy being noisy.”
“I’m going to get a lot louder.” Spence stomped out of the room.
Well, hell, Olympia thought, absently patting the baby’s back. Worse than bad. Epic disaster. What had Missy’s parents done now?
Twenty minutes later, Olympia adjusted the sling that held Peanut against her but kept her hands free. She took a deep breath before walking into the barn. Despite not growing up a cowboy, Spence’d become competent—more than competent—at caring for the animals. Fortunately, they were down to two horses and one javelina. Petunia needed to go to the animal sanctuary, but Olympia had been too busy to enforce the pact she and Cal had made when they’d taken on the animal’s care.
Olympia heard Muffin’s distinctive growling grumble. “Hush up. I didn’t get to the store, so I don’t have any muffins,” Spence said in a no-nonsense voice. Olympia opened her mouth to call to her husband when he went on. “Shi...crap, what am I going to do? They’re at it again. Move over so I can put hay in here.”
She heard Muffin snort and the shift of his hooves through the drifts of straw. The horse hadn’t bitten Spence. He did have a magic touch. Maybe he was more cowboy than he knew.
“Biting them might seem like a good idea, Muffin, my man. I’d love to take a huge chunk out of Missy’s parents. The two of them totally messed up their daughter. I’m not letting them get their cold, greedy hands on Calvin. But if the court sends another examiner out here, what’s he going to say?”
Muffin gave a sympathetic, wet sigh. Olympia’s chest squeezed with worry. Not Cal. Not this all over again. They had just gotten themselves settled into something that felt like a family.
“The stable is cleaner and more organized than the house. How can one small baby make such a mess? We’re talking a mess like Hercules faced in that stable.” A snort answered him. “Sorry, pal, I didn’t mean you. You are a very clean horse. Thanks for keeping it to one corner. Are you sure you’re not part dog? Move your head and I’ll get the other side. Gotta look good for the ladies. Though I guess you’re lacking in what the ladies really want.”
Should she step in now? What would she say? That everything would be all right? They both knew it was a lie. With Missy’s parents involved, deep pockets could prevail.
“They’ve got a case, Muffin. Honestly. I checked before the call. Grandparental rights are a thing. Courts have been more open to that, and with Missy still in rehab... Da...darn it. I can see a judge at least listening to them. They’ve got money for tutors, for more therapy.” The mixture of human male and horsey sigh hurt her. Peanut stirred, disturbed by the noise, and let out a little squeak of annoyance.
“Calvin?” Spence asked.
Olympia froze. Stay or go? This was family stuff, and family worked it out. “It’s me, Spence.”
“What are you doing out here?” Spence leaned out from Muffin’s stall. Then the horse’s head appeared beside him.
Crap. Annoyed Muffin equaled biting Muffin. “Spence, move slowly, very slowly to the side.”
“Huh?” He pushed the horse’s head out of the way and Muffin moved without taking any of Spence’s very capable fingers with him. When had her husband turne
d into a real cowboy? She was the one with the horse talent, but here she stood frozen, afraid of the horse that he so casually batted away.
“Nothing,” Olympia finally said. “I wanted... So what are we going to do?”
“I’m going to finish cleaning up out here, even that darned pig. You are going back in the house and rest.”
“I’m fine. But what’s up with Missy’s parents?”
“You heard at least part of it. They’re back to suing for full custody because of a ‘chaotic household and the need for his biological mother to have greater access to her son as part of her ongoing rehabilitation and therapy.’ What crap. They just want everyone in their set to look at them as saints...martyrs...whatever. They’re probably angling for exposure on Good Morning America. There’s the trust fund, too—”
“Chaotic? That’s not true.”
“Out of all that, that’s what you’re worried about?”
“No one likes to be called incompetent, and that’s what they’re saying. Sure, the house is a little messy, but we just had a baby.”
“I don’t remember it being so bad with Calvin.”
“That’s because you didn’t have another child. Cal has found his inner boy.” Flutters started in Olympia’s middle when Spence smiled and his dimple sprang into life. She was a mom, with her baby hanging around her neck; she shouldn’t be thinking naughty thoughts.
“He is getting to be all boy, isn’t he? I’m getting him cowboy boots and a hat for his birthday. It’s a couple months away, but he’ll love them. I also think this summer we should send him for a few weeks with his aunt and uncle, maybe after Disneyland. He’d love to help at Hope’s Ride. It would give him a chance to learn more about riding, and helping other kids would be good for him.”
“Will this be settled by summer?”
Spence tensed, and Muffin rubbed his shoulder in sympathy. “One way or another. It’s just that I already have a huge bill with the attorney, and this isn’t going to be cheap.”
“We’ll find the money.”
“I’ll just have to take the case back.”
“But you said that an attorney who has himself as a client is a fool, or something like that.”
“That’s true when you actually have money to pay for an attorney.”
Peanut wiggled again, her previously periodic movements working up to a full-blown squirm, which would be followed by yelling or even a full-out tantrum. How did kids learn that so early?
“Maybe the baby and I need to go to my sister’s in Arkansas. Jolene lives on a farm there. She’s the chicken whisperer or something. She would have me for a little bit. She’s not much on babies, but I could talk her into it. I’d find places for the horses and Petunia. It would make it simpler, and you’d be able to rent a place right in Tucson that doesn’t have leaking toilets or appliances that should be in the Smithsonian. Then you could concentrate on the case.”
“I know you’re an intelligent woman, but sometimes you can be so dumb,” Spence said, sidling out of Muffin’s stall. He planted himself in front of her, smelling of horse and licorice. Olympia inhaled deeply. Peanut settled back into the sling with a big sigh. “I know it’s not what you wanted or planned for, but we’re family.”
Olympia’s muscles relaxed, and she could take a deep breath. The baby hummed in contentment. “I know, but Cal was your family first—”
Spence reached out a hand, and Olympia didn’t move away as he pulled her and the baby close. The three of them stood there for a moment. She soaked in the warmth, the reassurance of the contact. Then Spence spoke. “I know you’re skittish about this family business. You sacrificed so much for your sisters, but maybe it wasn’t a sacrifice. You helped each of them to move on, and they’re all doing fine because you worked together as a family.”
“But what about Mama and Grammy and all the other James women?”
“The James women have done what they had to do to survive. That’s what your mama did. Maybe she didn’t make the best decisions, but she kept you girls together,” he plowed on. “Your mama and what she should have done is a discussion for another time. Right now I need to know that you aren’t going to run away to your sister’s, because I can face anything as long as I know you’re standing with me.”
“It would easier and better without Audie and me here to mess things up.”
“That’s family. It’s messy. At least, I hope, it is, because the perfect house and the perfect-looking kids didn’t do much for Payson and me, and certainly didn’t help Missy.”
“That’s not—”
“We get to decide what family is, and this is working well for us. For the first time in his life, Calvin is acting like a little boy, and Audie is growing like a weed. What more could we want? Didn’t someone say, ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans’?”
Olympia let Spence rock her and the baby. She’d had plans to follow the rodeo, to be footloose and fancy-free, one of those cowgirls the country-and-western singers crooned about. That had been the plan, but now? She didn’t think so. There was Peanut and Cal, these danged useless horses and the broken-down ranch. And Spence.
He stopped moving and held her a little way from him so that his dusty-blue gaze locked with hers. “So what do you say, Mrs. MacCormack? Should we make this official?”
“Official?” she asked, dazed by the heat and love in his gaze. Maybe home wasn’t such a boring place. Maybe being a family wasn’t about crushing responsibility, but having that place that gives you refuge so you can go out and fight the good fight.
“I had this all planned out, but you know the plans of mice and MacCormack men.” Spence dug in his pocket and held out a small box. “Here.”
“What’s this? We can’t afford this.” She wrapped her arms around Peanut. She knew in that little box was the ring they’d never gotten in Las Vegas.
“We have to afford it because this marriage is legit. Without a ring, it isn’t.”
“You’re taking advice from a seven-year-old who thinks the only way to prove you’re married is a ring?”
“When he’s right, he’s right. There’s one for me, too. I’m good with having a quickie wedding in Vegas with Elvis, but I want the rings. Guess I’m just an old-fashioned, romantic cowboy.” The hint of a dimple showed, then his face settled into sterner lines. “We are ripping up that prenup, too, because family isn’t created by a court or a signature. What are you thinking about?” Spence asked nervously. “You kind of look like Muffin, right before he tries to bite off my fingers or—”
She grabbed him and kissed him hard on the mouth because she didn’t know how else to show him, tell him how much she loved him and how much she wanted to be his family.
* * *
SPENCE AUTOMATICALLY PUT his arms around Olympia as her lips sealed against his, her clever little tongue sweeping the inside of his mouth. But there was more than heat in that kiss. As she nibbled at his lips and along his jaw, he could hear her breathy voice saying, “I love you, Spence. I love that you’re my family. I love that you want just me, and I love that you think you’re a cowboy.”
“I am a cowboy,” he said to her as he buried his face into her neck, taking care to not squash their baby. “And you’re a cowgirl. My cowgirl. Together we’re going to breed us a passel of cowpokes.”
“A passel?” she laughed.
“Why, darlin’, what did you expect, since you can’t keep your hands off me?” His heart filled with warmth and a deep-burning love. This was where he found happiness. Not in the courtroom. Not on the golf course, not even getting Muffin to stop biting him without a bribe. Here in Olympia’s arms with their child cradled between them—
“Dad, Limpy, whatcha doin’?”
Now it was complete. Spence pulled his son into their circle, and the four of t
hem stood in each other’s arms, then Audie let out a fart, followed by Calvin imitating the sound with a gleeful giggle.
His cowgirl looked up at him, her dark eyes sparking with happiness. “So this is better than being a rodeo cowgirl?”
“Why, ma’am, yes it is. Because we all worship the ground your boot steps on, even if you don’t make the eight seconds.”
“That’s bull riding, cowboy. Maybe Peanut will join the rodeo.”
“If she wants, but let’s get her to sleep through the night first.”
Spence released them and turned to his...their son. “Come on, Calvin, let’s check Pasquale while the girls get cleaned up, then we need to have a family meeting.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Uh-oh,” Lavonda said over the phone, her voice distressed but with a hint of laughter. “Molly heard. That pony’s got bat ears.”
“What do you mean?” Olympia asked. She had been talking on a three-way call with Lavonda and Jessie about the upcoming ceremony, where she and Spence would renew their vows. It was supposed to be simple. Just family. And by family, her preference would have been Cal, Audie and Spence. Her two friends had other ideas of what constituted family.
“Molly heard about the wedding,” Jessie clarified through the speaker.
“So?”
“So,” Jessie went on patiently, “you remember what happened with Payson and me?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Dang it, Molly,” Jessie said before Olympia heard a stomp and bugle from a much larger equine.
“What’s going on there?”
“Molly’s got Bull all riled up, and she’s trotting up and down in the barn,” Jessie said, then called, “You are not going to be in this wedding. She just said they’re not... Hey, don’t open that.” Jessie’s voice was raised in alarm.
