Texas Lullaby (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 7)

by Cynthia D'Alba

  Levi was a terror on knees. She spent most of the day finding items Levi shouldn’t have, such as Jasper’s dog biscuits, and putting them out of his tiny reach. Jasper loved having Levi on his level and barked and jumped over him as he crawled around the room. After lunch, she found Levi sucking on an ink pen, his lips and tongue a lovely shade of green.

  Great. Her baby would go to the Montgomery party with kelly-green gums and everybody would talk about how she was out of her league trying to raise these children. She scrubbed his mouth and hands, successfully getting most of the color off. However, if she looked carefully, she could still see shades of green.

  This mother thing was tough.

  Jason parked in front of Lydia’s house. The big, white Escalade filled her one-car driveway. The back of the SUV was open and he could see she had already begun to load the myriad of necessities required for three children.

  He’d always been somewhat aware that his siblings traveled with stuff for his nieces and nephews, but he’d never really given that much thought. Since he’d accepted the idea he’d never father children––which had taken him years to accept––he’d simply not mentally catalogued the various bits and pieces. Now, as he exited from his car, he realized how much stuff it took to move a child from one place to another. It gave him a new appreciation for his siblings. They made childrearing look so effortless when, in reality, it was far from it.

  He hurried from the street in time to help Lydia store Levi’s portable sleep pen.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “That everything?”

  She laughed. “You are so funny.”

  He hadn’t meant to be. “What can I do?” he asked.

  “There are a couple of small suitcases by the front door. Can you bring those out? I want to do a little rearranging back here before we leave.”

  He found a pink suitcase and a purple one just inside the door. Good Lord. They were only going to his parents’ house for a few hours. Did she really need to pack suitcases?

  “These?” he called, holding them up.

  She replied with a thumbs up, so he carried them to the Caddy.

  “You do realize we aren’t moving in at Bar M, right?” he joked.

  “Honest to God, I had no idea all the stuff and junk required for kids. I really didn’t.”

  “Why two suitcases?”

  “Two changes of clothes, swimsuits, arm floaties, pajamas and an extra pair of shoes for each girl.”

  “You have got to be kidding.”

  “I wish. But you know they are going to want to get into your parents’ pool. And you know as well as I do that dinner will be on their shirts and shorts, requiring clean clothes. And the fireworks are so late that if I have them already in pajamas when we go to watch them, I won’t have to wake the kids up when they get home to undress them. The extra set of clothes are just-in-case. ” She grinned and pointed to her head. “Lessons learned over the last two months.”

  He loved when she smiled. A flock of butterflies always took off in his gut when he saw it.

  He nodded. “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

  She laughed. “I guess I’d better warn you that Ellery and Annie are spatting today.”

  “About what?”

  “Who knows. Neither of them would take a nap, so I’m hoping they’ll fall asleep riding to your folks’ place.”

  “Okay, no loud radio in the car. I’ve got it.”

  She grinned. “No singing either.”

  As the saying goes, he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. “But,” he protested, “my voice is so calming.”

  “Only to a barn screech owl, who thinks you’re a relative.”

  Jason laughed. “Point taken.” He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  The girls greeted Jason with squeals, immediately hogtying him with arms around his knees. He walked across the room, lifting Annie on his left leg and Ellery on his right. They laughed with each step.

  Lydia came down the hall with Levi perched on her hip. He chortled when he saw Jason and put his arms out. Jason took him and stood there…a girl on each leg and a baby on his hip. It was if he were swaddled in kiddie love. His heart swelled so large he could barely expand his lungs to take a breath.

  Lydia picked up her car keys. “Okay then. Let’s go.” She headed for the front door, stopped and turned back. “You’re mighty slow today, Counselor.”

  Jason laughed. “I’ve got kid moss growing on me.”

  “Okay, girls, let Jason go so we can get in the car.”

  Once they climbed off his feet and unwrapped their arms from his legs, he missed them immediately.

  “Take my hands,” Lydia said.

  Each girl grabbed a hand and Jason, carrying Levi on his hip, followed them to the porch.

  “Lydia?” Ellery said.

  “Yes?”

  “Are we going to ballet?”

  “No, honey. Remember Mimi and Papa? We are going to their house.”

  “Oh, goodie,” Ellery said.

  “I love them,” Annie said.

  And Jason’s heart split into a million pieces.

  The drive took place during Ellery and Annie’s nap time, so the girls nodded off about ten minutes into the forty-five-minute drive. The traffic along the narrow back road that led to the Bar M was heavy. Cars lined the drive all the way to the front door of his parents’ place. Lydia pulled the SUV around the house to the parking area that been reserved for family. From all the other cars parked there, it looked as if he was the last Montgomery to arrive, but not by much. Mitch was just unloading his daughter from her car seat when Lydia turned off the engine.

  “Hey, bro-in-law,” Jason said as he stepped from the car.

  Mitch nodded. “Nice new ride, Lydia.”

  “Thanks,” Lydia said. “The extra room is such a luxury.”

  “More a necessity for us,” Mitch said.

  “For Lydia too,” Jason said. “Don’t let her kid you. That old car of hers was just too tiny for three kids and all the crap they require.”

  Mitch chuckled. “Crap is about right. Let me pass Eliza Grace off to Olivia and I’ll come back and help you guys.”

  “Appreciate it.”

  Once Mitch was out of hearing range, he looked at Lydia. “He’s a good guy. I’m so glad that he and Olivia got back together.”

  Lydia set the cooler from the rear seat on the roof. “I agree.”

  Ellery and Annie were stirring as Mitch came back with Jackie and Paige.

  “We’re here to help,” Jackie announced. “Where are my precious girls?”

  “Back here,” Ellery cried from the rear seat.

  “Get those girls out of there immediately,” Jackie said to Jason. “I need some hugs.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Jason got Annie from the car and set her on the ground. She ran over to his mother and threw her arms around Jackie’s legs. Ellery followed her sister straight to Jackie. Lydia had taken Levi from his seat and he was straddling her hip. Paige held out her hands, but the little boy turned his head and wouldn’t go to her.

  “Sorry,” Lydia said. “He’s a little clingy these days.”

  “That’s okay. I’ve got years for him to decide Aunt Paige is the best.”

  Jackie took both girls into the house while Mitch and Paige helped Jason haul in the bags, beds and food from the cargo space. For as far back as Jason could remember, his parents’ house was always packed with people for this barbeque. Today was no exception. Most he knew. Some he recognized by sight, but the town was growing. New people were moving in every month. There were some strangers, and he made a point of keeping an eye on the children because of that.

  He found Lydia in the yard, still holding Levi, and the girls sitting on his father’
s lap.

  “Found you,” he said.

  Lydia smiled at him. “Thanks for getting everything unloaded.”

  “No problem. The girls not too freaked out by all the people?”

  “Oh, yeah. They’re pretty quiet. They’re clinging to your mom and dad or me.”

  “I’m here. They’re okay with me.”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to stop you from having a good time. Go on. Find your friends. We’ll be fine.”

  Okay, that hurt. She was sending him off like they weren’t together, like she’d given him a ride to the party but having him beside her all evening would be an imposition.

  “I’ll just grab a beer. I’ll be right back.”

  “No problem.” She waved at Caroline and walked to where her partner stood.

  He snatched a beer from one of the iced tubs, twisted off the top and flipped it into a trash barrel.

  “Who pissed in your corn flakes?” Travis asked.

  “Nobody,” Jason said. He took a long draw off the beer, sucking down about half of it in one gulp.

  “Yeah, it’s as plain as the honking nose on your face that nothing’s wrong.”

  Jason’s gaze went to Lydia standing by Travis’s wife. Levi’s chubby legs hung down Lydia’s body. He held a bottle to his mouth and rested his head on Lydia’s shoulder. The image was too perfect, too sweet. Jason’s heart sagged under all the emotional weight.

  “Ah. Lydia. You’re not jealous of the kids, are you?” Travis asked. “I mean, I realize you’re not father material, but surely you don’t begrudge them for halting your wedding. That’s sick, bro.”

  “What? No, of course I don’t hold anything against those kids. And what do you mean I’m not father material? Just what makes you father material and me not?” His tone heated with resentment. “Who are you to decide who would make a good father and who wouldn’t?”

  “Whoa. Slow down. I only meant that you never wanted all the responsibilities that go with raising kids. I’ve heard, heck, we’ve all heard you say for years that you love being an uncle but no thanks to fatherhood.”

  Jason poured the rest of the beer down his throat, which did nothing to extinguish the fire raging in his gut. But before he could respond, Annie pulled on the hem of his shorts.

  “Jason?”

  Annie had stopped using the term uncle. He wasn’t sure if that was progress or regression in his relationship with her.

  He picked her up and she clung to him like a monkey.

  “Whatcha need, pumpkin?”

  She whispered in his ear. “Potty.”

  He looked at Lydia in conversation with Caroline and decided he could handle this.

  “Okay. Come on.”

  “Ellery too,” Annie said.

  He nodded.

  “Be right back,” he told his brother. “Nature calls.”

  Travis grinned but didn’t say anything.

  Ellery was at the back door, her hand between her legs with her legs crossed. Crap. He needed to hurry. The closest bathroom was the half-bath in his mother’s laundry. He sure wasn’t taking them to one of the many port-a-potties brought in for the event.

  He grabbed Ellery’s free hand and took her with them into the house, across the kitchen teaming with women––who surely knew more than he did about these things––and into the laundry room. Since Ellery appeared to be the one with the pressing problem, he got her on the toilet first, and not a moment too soon. He helped Ellery wash her hands when she was done while he kept an eye on Annie. Once both girls were done and hands washed, they went back through the kitchen.

  “Everything all right, honey?” his mother asked.

  “Everything’s fine. Just a pit stop for my girls.”

  His mother’s eyes widened and she smiled. “You should have said something. I would have taken them.”

  “We did fine. Come on, girls. Let’s see what’s going on outside.”

  “There you are,” Lydia said the minute they were back outside. “Travis said you took them to the bathroom.”

  “Yeah. So?” He let go of the girls’ hands and they wandered a few feet away to pet Tiger, the large barn cat who was stretched out on the patio.

  “You should have come gotten me. I could have taken them.”

  “Yeah, you could have.” He frowned. “But why does everyone seem to think that taking two little girls to potty is beyond my skill set?”

  She scoffed. “I didn’t say you couldn’t do it. I said you didn’t have to.” She glanced toward the girls squatting down beside Tiger and lowered her voice. “I feel like I’m putting you in an impossible situation.”

  He reached over and played with Levi’s dangling foot. “You’re not. Want me to take him? He’s got to be getting heavy.”

  “Actually, I thought I might take him inside and feed him dinner. That way I can actually eat later.”

  “Want me to do it?”

  Her eyes warmed with her smile. “No, but can you keep an eye on the girls?”

  “Sure.”

  Caroline joined them. “I thought I’d let Austin and Britney swim a little before dinner. Eliza Grace and Adam are coming along. Want me to take your girls?”

  Ellery and Annie had gotten close enough to hear Caroline’s offer.

  “Yes, yes,” the both cried.

  “Please, Lydia,” Ellery said.

  “Yeah, please,” Annie said.

  Jason looked at her. “If you want to gossip with the women, Levi and I can find some manly things to do.”

  “We don’t gossip,” Caroline said with a huff. “We inform.”

  Jason chuckled. He adored his sister-in-law. In his opinion, she was the best thing that’d happen to Travis since his first wife had died so young.

  “I stand corrected,” he said, grinning. He held out his hands to Levi. “Come on, big guy.” Levi fell into Jason’s arms. “I’m thinking beer and steaks. What are you thinking?” he said to Levi.

  “He’s thinking strained peaches and turkey,” Lydia said.

  “Same thing,” Jason said. “Where’d you put his bag?”

  “Your old bedroom.”

  “I think I remember where that is.” He settled the growing boy on his hip and headed back into the forest of women in his mother’s kitchen.

  Lydia watched Jason walk off with Levi clinging to him.

  “For a man who was so adamant about not having children, he seems to be doing okay,” Caroline observed.

  “Yeah, but it’s only been a couple of months. I can’t see Jason changing his mind about fatherhood for the long haul. He was pretty adamant about that.” Lydia shrugged. “He’ll get tired of the whining, the crankiness, the dirty diapers, the constant vigil to make sure they are all right.”

  “Like you?” Caroline asked.

  “Never. I love my kids.” She glanced over at Annie and Ellery with Britney, all three girls sitting on the ground with the cat. “Come on, girls. We have to get you in your swimsuits if you want to get in the pool.”

  “You too, Britney,” Caroline said.

  Caroline’s brother, Noah, a mature seventeen-year-old high school senior, was already in the pool when they returned with the children. Noah had lived with Caroline and Travis since he was a troubled fourteen-year-old runaway. Lydia remembered Noah as sort of a scrawny kid but work on the ranch had given him well-developed, muscular chest, broad shoulders and a well-defined six-pack abdomen.

  “Lifeguard Noah reporting for duty,” he said. “Hi, Lydia. Good to see you.”

  “You too, Noah.” The girls stood in front of her, their eyes glued to the boy, or really, young man, in the pool. “This is Ellery,” she said putting her hand on Ellery’s head, “and this is Annie. Girls, this is Noah. He’s Ms. Caroline’s brother.” She wasn’t really sure if they would get the fa
miliar relationship but maybe if they linked him to Caroline in their minds, they’d probably think he was okay.

  She didn’t have to worry. Her girls were going to have fine taste in men as she saw their first boy crushes flare on Noah, not that she blamed them.

  “Hello, ladies,” Noah said, walking to the shallow end. “Want to come in with me?”

  Britney and Austin wasted no time joining their uncle. Ellery and Annie were a little bashful as they walked down the steps.

  Soon all the Montgomery kids were in the pool. Olivia dragged a chair over to where Lydia and Caroline were sitting watching their children in the water.

  “God,” Olivia said as she sat. “I feel like such a dirty old woman.”

  Lydia snorted. “Me too.”

  Caroline frowned, “What are you two talking about?”

  “Your brother,” Olivia said. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the change in him since he arrived.”

  “Yeah,” Lydia agreed. “Those high school girls aren’t going to know what hit them.”

  Noah had been homeschooled up until his senior year. He’d asked to go to the local high school this fall for his final year.

  Caroline sighed. “I thought if I ignored it, no one would notice all the changes.”

  “Again, dirty old women here—” Olivia pointed to herself and then to Lydia, “—and here.”

  “Yeah, sorry, Caroline, but he’s a rockin’ stud.”

  Caroline laughed. “Great. I have to keep all the high school girls away and fight off middle-age women.”

  “We are not middle-aged,” Olivia huffed. “We are in our prime, right, Lydia?”

  “Damn straight.”

  The three ladies chuckled.

  Lydia indicated the pool with the tilt of her head. “My problem is that my girls have already fallen for him, an older man.”

  All three gazes shifted to the pool as they watched Ellery and Annie hanging on Noah.