Unbridled (Unlikely Lovers)

by Brooks, Cheryl

  Her reverie might have lasted longer if the dogs hadn’t started barking. Moments later, the back door slammed in a way that informed her that this wasn’t Travis coming home early. It was Levi.

  “Uh, hi, Mom,” he said, dropping the mail on the kitchen table as she came down the hallway. “I’m home.”

  “I can see that.” She studied him for a moment, trying to gauge his mood. “I wasn’t expecting you until Friday. Is something wrong?”

  “Aunt Tracy called me. She said you were hurt.”

  Leave it to Tracy to force the issue. “I fell on the ice Saturday morning and hit my head. Broke some ribs, too. I’m doing better now, though.” She pointed to the bump on her head. “See?”

  He stepped closer, scrutinizing the wound. “That had to hurt! Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve come home to help you.”

  “I didn’t want you to worry, and I, um, already had someone here to help me.” Averting her eyes, she spotted the condom sitting out in plain sight right next to where he’d laid the phone bill. Her only hope was that he wouldn’t realize what it was.

  He frowned. “Who is it?”

  “His name is Travis York. He’s…a friend of mine. He puts shoes on horses. I see him at my riding lesson all the time.”

  “Trabis?”

  She shook her head. “No. It’s Travis with a V.”

  “Travis,” he repeated. “Is he your boyfriend now?” As usual, Levi cut right to the chase.

  Miranda blinked and her knees lost some of their strength. “Yes, he is.”

  He glanced at the clock. “Is he feeding the horses? It’s four o’clock, you know.” A stickler for routine, Levi had always fed the cats and dogs at four while she went to the barn, and he fussed anytime she failed to lie down for a nap at precisely one o’clock if she had to work that night.

  “Don’t worry, he’ll feed them when he gets here.”

  “I think he’s already here. There’s a truck in the driveway.”

  “Really? He must’ve gotten home just before you did and gone straight up to the barn.” Either that or the dogs didn’t see fit to bark at his truck anymore.

  “I have a girlfriend.” Evidently, Levi felt he’d discussed Travis enough. “Her name is Tabitha. I want to marry her.”

  Miranda took a second to steady her knees and pick her jaw up off the floor. “You mentioned her before. Are you sure she likes you enough to marry you?”

  “She kissed me.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean she wants to marry you. She might have only done it to be nice.”

  “She is nice, but she said she kissed me because she loved me.”

  This was going to be tough. Miranda had yet to hear of a girl who truly loved Levi, at least not in the way he wanted them to. Although every woman who worked at the school was crazy about him—from his kindergarten teacher to the ladies who worked in the office—none of them had ever kissed him. Then again, the taboos at school didn’t necessarily apply to the workplace. She really needed to meet this girl… “Are you sure she meant it that way?”

  “Why wouldn’t she?”

  “You’re sort of different, Levi. None of the other girls you’ve known have wanted to be your girlfriend—or marry you.” This Tabitha had probably been kidding around, not realizing that Levi took everything literally. He actually believed TV commercials and thought that all a guy had to do was smell good to get women to fall for him.

  “Oh. Well, maybe she’s different too.”

  His crestfallen expression nearly broke her heart. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Maybe she really does love you. I’ll ask her about it later.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Do you love Travis?”

  She didn’t see any point in complicating things or denying it. “Yes, I do.”

  “I love Tabitha,” he said with conviction. “And I want to marry her. I want to have a boy baby and a girl baby. I love children.”

  Much more of this and she’d be crying her eyes out. “I know you do,” she said gently. “We’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out. Have you had supper yet?”

  “Tabitha fixed me a hamburger and French fries to eat before I left the store.”

  “That was nice of her. I’m getting ready to make dinner for Travis and me. You can meet him when he gets back from the barn. I think you’ll like him.”

  Levi frowned. “He doesn’t smoke, does he? I hate it when people smoke.”

  “I can’t say that I care for it much, myself. Don’t worry, he doesn’t smoke.”

  “Tabitha doesn’t, either,” he said. “I really like Tabitha.”

  She made a vain attempt to divert him to another train of thought. “How’s work been lately?”

  “Oh, fine.”

  So much for that.

  By the time Travis had finished feeding the horses, Levi was already pacing the floor and talking to himself. Nevertheless, he snapped back to reality as soon as Miranda introduced him to Travis.

  Leveling a stern look at Travis, he demanded, “Are you going to marry my mom?”

  Travis didn’t bat an eyelash. “Maybe. I don’t know if she likes me well enough yet to say for sure.”

  “I’m going to marry Tabitha,” Levi declared. “I think she likes me enough.”

  Travis grinned. “I hope she does. Is she pretty?”

  “Of course she is,” Levi said, rolling his eyes. “She’s beautiful.”

  “Can she cook?”

  Levi nodded. “She makes cookies for me.”

  “Good cookies?”

  “Delicious cookies,” Levi replied with his biggest, widest smile. “She’s going to school to be a chef.”

  “That’s nice.” Travis shot Miranda a wicked grin. “I made brownies for your mom. I think she should marry me for that.”

  “Cookies and brownies are great, guys,” Miranda interjected. “But they aren’t a very good reason for getting married.”

  “I dunno,” Travis said with a slow wag of his head. “I make pretty good brownies.”

  She glared at him, hoping he’d take the hint. “Can we talk about something else?”

  Travis replied with a wink and a nod. “So, Levi, do you like horses?”

  “Yes, but I don’t know how to ride them. They’re kinda scary, you know?”

  Travis suspected he’d found a kindred spirit in Miranda’s son, particularly in light of the fact that he’d all but proposed for him. “What else do you like?”

  “I like Tabitha.”

  “And I like your mom. Did you know I’ve been staying here to take care of her?”

  “Yes, she told me.”

  “I’m feeling much better now,” Miranda said. “Although he still won’t let me go to the barn.” Her sidelong glance put Travis in mind of his comment to Lorene. She certainly looked vengeful. And totally hot…

  Levi frowned, shaking his head. “But the horses will miss her. You should let her see them.”

  “She can see them tomorrow. She should be well enough by then.”

  Miranda rolled her eyes. “Finally! I was beginning to think you were going to keep me cooped up in the house forever.”

  Travis chuckled. “I’ll admit to having an ulterior motive. You’ll probably throw me out, now.”

  “Nah, you’re too handy to have around.” Her flippant reply and dismissive wave had him worried until he realized what was missing.

  Her wedding ring. Holy shit. Stunned speechless and completely overjoyed, he stood gaping at her with no clue as to whether to keep his mouth shut or squeal with glee.

  Thankfully, he didn’t have to make that decision because Levi beat him to it. “Mom! You lost your ring!”

  Travis smiled at Levi, his respect for the boy increasing with each passing moment. “Don’t miss much, do you, Levi?”

  “No, I don’t,” Levi replied. “She never takes her ring off. Ever.”

  Miranda nodded toward her son, arching an eyebrow. “Have I mentioned how observant he is?” Although her
tone was light and teasing, Travis could’ve sworn she was blushing. “No, I didn’t lose my ring. I took it off and put it away.”

  “How come?” Levi seemed puzzled, and Travis couldn’t blame him for that. He was a little puzzled himself—but hopeful.

  “I should have stopped wearing it years ago. Your father is gone, Levi. I have to accept that and move on.”

  Levi stared at her in frank disbelief. “Of course he’s gone. He died a long time ago. Didn’t you know that?”

  Evidently, Levi had a better grasp of the situation than his mother did. For an instant, her face seemed to crumble, then she lifted her chin ever so slightly and met his gaze head on. “Yeah, I knew that. I just never had a good enough reason to believe it until now.”

  Levi cocked his head, eyeing her askance. “You must’ve been really crazy, Mom.”

  His matter-of-fact tone had Travis biting back a chuckle as Miranda’s hand flew to her lips, although not quickly enough to cover her smile. “You got me there, Levi. I probably was a little crazy. I’m over it now.”

  “Good,” Levi said with a firm nod. “Now you can marry Travis.”

  Travis shouted with laughter. “I like the way you think, Levi. How about us guys have a talk while your mom fixes dinner?” With a wink at Miranda, he shepherded her son into the living room. If things turned out the way he was beginning to suspect, he’d be having the birds and bees discussion with Levi one day—possibly sooner than Miranda realized.

  Might be a good idea to get to know him better first.

  Miranda stared after the two men, still not quite sure what had just happened. Had Travis asked her to marry him, or did Levi do it for him?

  Reviewing the conversation, she decided that while Levi had been the one to bring it up, Travis certainly hadn’t tried to shoot down the notion—a pertinent detail that ignited all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings in her heart. He hadn’t pressed her for an answer, though, which was probably a good thing. She wasn’t sure how many momentous developments she could take in one day.

  And I was worried about Levi…

  After all this time, he could still surprise her. He’d gone off with Travis like they were old buddies—although the fact that Travis had encouraged him to talk about Tabitha was probably responsible for his easy acceptance. He hadn’t been the one to burst the kid’s bubble or try to let him down gently. He’d encouraged him to talk about the girl, even going so far as to prompt him for a list of her attributes. The possibility of a broken heart was never mentioned—although that discussion might be occurring now that they were out of earshot.

  She’d been looking forward to their meeting, and yet dreading it at the same time. Obviously she needn’t have worried. Levi was as blunt as they came, but Travis didn’t seem bothered by it. Then again, he hadn’t told Travis he was a terrible person for trying to steal his mother’s affections from his late father. No, he’d bypassed the bullshit and told her she was crazy.

  Another thing she hadn’t anticipated was how cute they would be together. With very little effort, Travis had managed to bring out the fun side of Levi, and they were both so charming when they smiled. Miranda couldn’t help being pleased by this, because the kid wasn’t always happy. Sometimes he seemed downright melancholy, which made her wonder how he acted around Tabitha. Did he follow her around like a lovesick pup? Or did she make him giddy to the point that he couldn’t stop laughing?

  Despite having grown up quite a bit in recent months, Levi was by no means a typical twenty-two-year-old. Tabitha had to realize how immature he was. Surely she wasn’t seriously considering marriage, and knowing Levi’s blunt tongue, he’d probably already asked her. Miranda doubted his ability to deal with having a girlfriend, let alone a wife.

  She hoped Tabitha had enough sense to realize that, and she also hoped that money wasn’t the issue. Miranda had used most of Kris’s death benefits to pay for the farm. Being naturally frugal, she’d managed to hold onto a nice little nest egg, which she’d been advised against putting in trust for Levi, since it would’ve rendered him ineligible for support services.

  Therefore, there was no tempting trust fund for a spouse to siphon money from, and now that Levi had a full-time job, he wasn’t even receiving Supplemental Security Income money anymore. If Tabitha was truly interested in Levi, she needed to be aware of that, plus the fact that Miranda was not only his parent but his legal guardian. She had to give her permission for him to marry, and it would take a lot more than cookies to convince her to do that.

  Chapter 25

  Travis hadn’t expected to take an instant liking to Miranda’s son. Nor had he expected the boy to make him laugh quite so much. And he especially didn’t think Levi would turn out to be his best ally in his quest to win Miranda’s hand. But damned if he wasn’t turning out to be just that.

  “Mom needs a husband,” Levi insisted. “I don’t know why she never found another one after Dad died. She’s very pretty.”

  Travis nodded. “I know she is. I’m glad she didn’t find a guy before me, though. I’d be pretty upset if I fell in love with her and she was already married.” Actually, upset was too mild a word. Stronger terms like heartbroken, torn up, and devastated were more appropriate.

  “Good point!”

  Levi’s style of speech seemed to put an exclamation mark after everything he said. Miranda had described him as entertaining, and perhaps he was simply “on” because Travis was a new acquaintance. He certainly kept the three of them chuckling for the greater part of the evening. If he’d been at Miranda’s Christmas party, Travis would’ve had a hell of a lot more fun—and not only because meeting Levi then would’ve made it quite plain that he was Miranda’s son, rather than her husband. Levi was a hoot.

  He didn’t even mind that Levi’s presence curtailed the plans he’d had for that evening. There would be other opportunities to make love with Miranda, and the more he and Levi talked, the more he realized how much he was hoping to be in this for the long haul. He had every intention of marrying Miranda and looked forward to claiming Levi as a stepson.

  The fact that a stepson would be all he would ever have should’ve bothered him, but it didn’t. He’d told Miranda before that having children wasn’t a high priority in his life, and he had an idea that there might be some grandparenting in their future. That is, if Levi and Tabitha could convince Miranda that marriage was appropriate for them.

  He opted to reserve judgment on that until he knew Levi better—not to mention Tabitha—aside from the fact that Levi was Miranda’s responsibility, not his. He had no claim to Levi unless he and Miranda were to marry, and perhaps not even then. There was also the possibility that they might not see eye to eye on such a touchy issue. After all, Miranda had known Levi since birth; Travis didn’t have that advantage.

  Although Levi was obviously immature in some ways, in others, he seemed very wise—particularly in light of what he’d said to his mother about moving on after his father’s death. She’d had other reasons for remaining single, and Travis certainly couldn’t fault her for wanting to keep her son safe. Still, he hoped she wouldn’t flatly refuse to give her consent to the marriage if it ever truly became an issue. Like anyone else, Levi deserved his shot at happiness.

  For the moment, however, he had no say in any of it. Levi was Miranda’s son and she was his legal guardian. Travis was nothing more than a friend of the family.

  Well…maybe a little more than that…

  Should he stay the night if Levi didn’t go back to his apartment? Miranda hadn’t dated anyone before; therefore, Levi had no experience with any of his mother’s boyfriends sleeping over. Sighing inwardly, he realized he probably needed to go, and not only because of Levi.

  Although Stuart hadn’t said anything about wanting Travis to come home, he had been pretty needy in the wake of his divorce. There was always the chance that if he got lonely enough, he might actually go out and meet someone new—a step he’d been very reluctant to take. Stuart ha
dn’t done any dating since high school. Now he had an ex-wife in addition to a broken heart, two kids, and a mortgage, his marriage having taken several years longer to turn sour than Travis’s had.

  Given their collective experience, Travis was surprised he believed happy marriages were even possible. Stuart’s attitude was still iffy, and although his self-esteem was at an all-time low, finding someone would probably be much easier than he thought. Girls had been drooling over Stuart since grade school, and as far as Travis could tell, they were still drooling.

  In the end, he waited until ten o’clock and then kissed Miranda goodnight, not a bit happy knowing that a kiss would have to suffice.

  Miranda, on the other hand, seemed to appreciate the gesture. With a nod toward her son, she smiled her thanks and gave him a hug that kept him warm all the way home.

  Travis was halfway there before he realized he hadn’t mentioned that condom he’d spotted on the kitchen table when he arrived—or the fact that it was gone when they’d sat down to dinner. Perhaps Miranda had already had the birds and bees discussion with Levi—maybe even while he’d been up at the barn feeding the horses.

  Bet that was interesting.

  * * * *

  For a first meeting, that didn’t go too badly. Having been the other half of a two-person family for so long, Miranda couldn’t have predicted how Levi would react to a new addition. She’d hoped he wouldn’t see Travis as an intruder—and he hadn’t, at least not yet. Perhaps he never would. “So, did you like Travis?”

  “Yeah. He’s nice. You should marry him.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Come on now, Levi. Marriage is a lot more complicated than that, and you know it.”

  “But if you love someone, you should marry them. It’ll work out. Trust me.”

  Miranda suspected that he was simply parroting something he’d heard someone else say—perhaps even a line from a movie, since he had a tendency to do that. “Where’d you hear that?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s true, isn’t it?”