The Triplets' Cowboy Daddy
Page 12
He heard the scrape of boots on the cement floor, and Easton turned to see Dale Young, Cliff’s brother-in-law. He was an older guy, skinny and tall with a prominent nose and gray brush of a mustache.
“Hey, Dale,” Easton said. “What brings you here?”
He crossed the garage and shook the other man’s hand.
“Just checking up on things,” Dale said. “I told Dina I’d come say howdy. One of your ranch hands told me where I could find you.”
“Just getting a part for Nora’s truck.” Easton held it up. “So how’ve you been?”
“Not bad...” Dale winced. “The gossip around this place has been something fierce. My wife has been taking it personal.”
Easton shrugged his assent to that. Nora and Dina were taking it hard, too.
“Did you know about the other woman?” Dale asked.
“Before my time,” Easton said. “And from what I gather, it wasn’t a lengthy affair. Just a mistake.”
“Hmm.” Dale grunted.
“I don’t like how people are talking,” Easton admitted. “Cliff was a good man—a solid neighbor, a helping hand. How many times did he help with a cattle drive or with hay baling when someone was sick?”
“Preaching to the choir,” Dale replied. “I know you two were close. He was good to you, too.”
The two men walked out of the garage into the sunlight, and Easton adjusted his hat to shade his eyes. Cliff had been good to him, and it wasn’t just about the three acres and the old house. That land came complicated, and it had been rubbing at his conscience ever since Nora’s return.
“Dale, I was wondering about that,” Easton said, pausing. “The land he gave me, that is.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s your wife’s grandparents’ house,” Easton said. “Does that rankle her at all, me having it? I’m not family.”
Dale sucked in a deep breath then let it out slowly and shrugged. “A little, truthfully.”
Easton expected as much.
“She’d never say nothing about it,” Dale went on. “Cliff owned that house, and could do what he wanted with it. None of us expected that he’d just give it away like that, though.”
“And you?” Easton pressed. “Do you have an issue with me living there?”
“Nah.” Dale smoothed his fingers over his mustache. “It’s a house, and Cliff wasn’t a man to do something like that lightly. He gave it to you for a reason. He wanted you to have it.”
A reason—that was what Easton needed to nail down. Why had Cliff done that—written over a piece of his family history?
“Before he died, he wanted me to move into that house and live there. He said he wanted someone to take care of the place for him. Thing is, I can’t rest easy knowing that I’m sitting on land that means this much to the Carpenters. I mean, it’s a godsend for me, but that’s because I come from a hard place. I was just a cowboy who respected his boss. Nothing more and nothing less. Was I really worth that kind of gift? If I knew what made him do it, it might make it easier to carry on as he intended.”
Because if Cliff had only been trying to keep him as an employee, he’d feel really bad about that. He didn’t need to be bought off, especially with something that meant so much to the rest of the family. Now that Cliff was gone, Dina might be okay with replacing him eventually.
Dale nodded slowly. “I think Cliff had a big heart.”
Was that it? Was this emotional?
“What do you mean by that?” Easton pressed.
“Meaning you weren’t just an employee to him. He cared for you—and while you think you weren’t family to him, there’s three acres of land that begs to differ.” Dale shrugged. “You mattered to him, and he made sure you were taken care of. God knows your own dad wasn’t going to leave you nothing. People are gonna talk—and that’s not gonna change. They’ll talk about Cliff’s affair, and about your land... It’s what people do. If you really can’t rest easy there, then sell it to Nora. You’d have some money to start fresh somewhere else, and she’d have that precious house back.”
Nora’s problem seemed to be that she had nowhere to call home in Hope anymore—nowhere truly hers. If she had that house back, the seat of her family’s memories, then maybe she could have what she wanted most. And a fresh start for him...it gave him a little hopeful rush to even consider it right now.
“It’s a good idea,” Easton said with a nod. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem.” Dale eyed Easton for a moment. “Or marry her. That could take care of the family issue pretty quick.”
Easton smiled wryly. “I’ve known Nora for a long time, Dale. I’ve been friend-zoned since we were fourteen.”
Dale barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Those Carpenter women are a handful.”
And Dale would know—he’d been married to Cliff Carpenter’s sister for the last thirty-five years. But he had a point. Selling the house to Nora would take care of things right quick. She’d get the house she loved; he’d get a new start somewhere else. And if his mom could have a fresh start—all clean and respectable—then why not him? She’d left him behind in that hole with his father, but that didn’t mean he had to stay here in Hope. What was holding him here now, after all? Cliff had passed on, his father had never had much right to Easton’s loyalty and his mother was raising another son with her electrician husband, Tom.
This was a big country—heck even the state of Montana was pretty large. He’d had some job offers before; he’d be able to find another position without too much trouble—a new life where no one knew the skeletons in his closet. Everyone had issues—that wasn’t the problem. It was having everyone know you well enough to be able to point out your issues plain as day. That was the aggravating part. But a chance at a life where no one else knew the things that stabbed him deepest? Well, that was a whole new kind of freedom that he longed to taste.
But still—that took walking away, and just leaving Nora and the babies. While it would solve everything, it would be hard. He wasn’t a part of that family—wasn’t that what he’d been acknowledging all along, that he wasn’t really family? But still, while he may want a fresh start, a small and stupid part of him stayed the hopeful teenager, and saw Nora by his side.
His phone blipped and he looked down to see a text from his mom.
Hi Easton—how about Saturday at 11 at Beauty’s Ice Cream? Brandon wants to meet you.
He stood, frozen for a moment, his mind spinning. She’d done it. She’d gotten that fresh start, and the thing he hated most about it was how blasted happy she looked now. A husband, another kid, a comfortable life... If his mom could do it, then why not him?
He texted back:
Sure. See you then.
* * *
NORA, DINA AND AUNT AUDREY sat around the kitchen table in the main house, mugs of coffee in front of them. Dale had left after lunch to go take a look at the ranch. With Cliff gone, Dale had taken it upon himself to make sure things didn’t slump while Dina grappled with her grief. People could get taken advantage of during times of tragedy, and it took a family pulling together to make sure that didn’t happen.
Lunch dishes were piled on the countertop, mugs of coffee replaced them on the scratched table and the women sat together, sipping their coffee, waiting for Dale to get back. Audrey bore a striking resemblance to her late brother. She had his mix of blond and white hair, the same stalky build, the same short fingers.
Audrey held sleeping Bobbie in her arms. Nora was snuggling Riley, and Rosie lay in her car seat. Dina’s arms were empty. She leaned her elbows on the table, a half-finished mug of coffee in front of her.
“They look like Carpenters,” Audrey said. “I can see it in the shape of their faces. All the Carpenter babies have these little chins.”
Dina glanced at Audrey, h
er expression blank.
“They’re here now,” Audrey said pointedly. “You might want to accept it, Dina.”
“And if Dale had another family somewhere?” Dina retorted. “You’d just open your arms to all of his grandchildren?”
Audrey smoothed a hand over Bobbie’s downy head. “Dale isn’t the type—”
“And Cliff was?” Dina demanded. “You’re telling me you saw that coming?”
“I told myself I wouldn’t mention it, but is it possible that you were a tad too controlling with Cliff?” Audrey’s voice stayed quiet, but her tone hardened. “He had to come home and ask you before he did anything. Maybe he had a small revolt—an inappropriate one, obviously, but—” She paused and put her attention back into the baby.
Dina’s eyes flashed, but her chin quivered with repressed tears. She pushed her mug away and stood up, turning her back on them and stalking toward the kitchen window.
“What do you know about my parents’ marriage?” Nora snapped.
“He was my brother,” Audrey replied. “I knew him.”
“Dad wasn’t whipped,” Nora retorted. “He respected her opinion. And what did he come home and discuss with her—lending you and Dale money? Has it ever occurred to you that he wanted to say no to giving you more cash, and needed some distance to do it?”
The room hummed with tension, and Nora looked at her mother’s rigid back. This was what Dina was facing now—judgment from women who didn’t want to believe it could just as easily have happened to them. Dina would be the one to blame, because if it was her fault, then the others could avoid her fate. Heaven knew no one would want to cheat on a woman like Audrey—always so virtuous and right all the time. Nora suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.
“All I’m trying to say,” Audrey said at last, “is that these children are here, and they are my relatives, too. If you can’t be a granny to them, Dina, then I’ll step in.”
Was that a solution? Audrey was a blood relative to these baby girls, and if she’d be “Grandma,” then perhaps it would let her own mother off the hook. Audrey lovingly stroked Bobbie’s hand with one finger, but Nora caught the look of stricken grief on her mother’s face as she turned back to face them.
Dina would be pushed out. Nora could see how this would unfold. The girls would be loved and spoiled by Audrey and Dale, but that wouldn’t stop gossip about their grandfather, and it would only put Dina, the loving wife of their grandfather, on the sidelines where she would still be blamed for her husband’s cheating. Because if there was one thing about Audrey, it was her utter conviction that she was right.
Nora didn’t want Dina to be Grandma because of her relationship to Cliff; she’d wanted Dina because of her relationship to her. Audrey’s offer wasn’t a solution so much as a threat—step up as grandparent, or live forever in the shadows.
Dale’s boots echoed on the side steps, and the door opened. He took off his hat as he came in.
“Howdy,” he said, then he stopped short. “Everything okay in here?”
“Just snuggling babies,” Audrey said, a shade too chipper. “Why don’t you come hold this little angel, Dale?”
Dale’s gaze moved to Dina then back to his wife. He seemed to do the math pretty quickly, because his mustache twitched a couple of times, then he said, “We’d better get back, Aud.”
“Seriously, Dale, come and see these little treasures...” Audrey leaned down and breathed in next to Bobbie’s head. “They smell so good.”
“Aud.” He didn’t say anything else—his tone was enough, and he stared at his wife flatly until she sighed, rose to her feet and brought Bobbie over to Nora.
“You remember what I said, Nora,” she said quietly. “There’s more than one way to be family.”
Dale waited by the door until Audrey had collected her purse and said her goodbyes. Before shutting the door, Dale cast Nora an apologetic look.
“Take care now, Nora,” he said with that usual flat tone of his. “And take care of your mom, too, okay?”
“Bye, Uncle Dale.” She smiled, but she wasn’t sure she pulled it off.
Then they were gone.
Nora sat with her mother in silence. The two babies slept on in Nora’s arms and she looked at their peaceful faces. The clock ticked audibly from the wall, and Nora felt like her heart was filled with water. This was a mess. Audrey would make her mother miserable for the rest of her life if she was given the chance. Dina and Audrey had respected each other, but there had always been a little bit of a chilly distance there—history that Nora didn’t know about, no doubt.
“Was I controlling?” Dina asked hollowly.
“Not with Dad,” Nora said. “You were the toughie with me, though.”
“I was the toughie because your dad wouldn’t discipline you,” Dina said with a sigh. “He wanted to be the good guy all the time, so he’d leave getting you back into line for me. Do you know how badly I wanted to be the good guy every once in a while?”
“Really?” Perhaps their marriage had been more complicated than Nora realized. She blinked back sudden tears. Her dad had been the quiet strength in her life, the one who would nod slowly and say, “Your mother isn’t as wrong as you think...” But still, someone had to draw lines and give lectures. Just not Cliff.
“Dad just did things differently.” That was probably an understatement. They were only finding out now how differently he’d been doing things.
“Yeah.” Dina rubbed a hand over her eyes.
Nora hadn’t told her mother about the letters Easton had found yet—she hadn’t been sure it was a good idea, but now she reconsidered. Audrey would love nothing more than to pass around that Cliff had been keeping up a long-term romance with Angela, but that wasn’t the case.
“Easton found some letters that Angela wrote to Dad,” Nora said. “They didn’t seem to have any kind of ongoing affair. But she kept Dad up-to-date on Mia, it seems.”
Dina frowned. “What—did he have a secret post office box or something?”
“Yes.”
Dina shook her head but didn’t say anything. Another betrayal. Another secret. How many would they unearth before this was over?
“Mia really hated him as a kid,” Nora said. “She wrote him a letter telling him how much she hated him for not being a part of her life.”
“I hate him right now, too,” Dina said, and a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek. She wiped it away then sucked in a breath, visibly rallying herself again. “It’s just as well we’ve canceled the corn roast.”
“Is that what you really want?” Nora asked.
“What I want is to have my husband back,” Dina retorted. “And for his sister to go jump in a lake.”
“Yeah, she’s not my favorite, either.”
Nora looked out the kitchen window, her mind going back over all those other Carpenter corn roasts—the fun times, the laughter... Her dad had always been the center of it all, barbecuing up burgers for everyone. They could abandon the tradition, or they could face it.
“Will it help to skip it?” Nora asked after a moment. “I mean—they’ll talk anyway, but if we call off the corn roast and keep to ourselves, will they talk more?”
“That corn roast turned into tradition over the years,” Dina said thoughtfully. “What if... I mean, it might be our last one, but I think you’re right. Let them come and see us in our complicated mess. The less they see of us, the more they’ll talk. And with any luck at all, Audrey will get food poisoning.”
Nora barked out a laugh. “Okay. Sure. In Dad’s honor.”
Rosie started to fuss from her car seat, squirming and letting out a whine. She hated being out of arms, that little girl, but Nora had both Riley and Bobbie in her arms and she couldn’t pick up a third. Nora glanced pleadingly at her mother. “Help me?”
“They do look like Carpenters,” she said. “Your idiot father would have been so proud...”
Nora felt laughter bubbling up inside her. “Are you going to call him my idiot father for the rest of your life?”
“Yes.” Dina smiled wryly. “I think I will. He’s certainly earned it.”
Rosie immediately settled now that she was in Dina’s arms, letting out a soft sigh of contentment. It was impossible not to fall for these babies, and Nora could see that reality in her mother’s face as she gently patted the diapered rump.
“You were this small once,” Dina said. “And it was easier then. So much less complicated.”
“Are you saying it’ll only get worse—this mess, I mean—as the girls get older?”
Dina nodded slowly. “I’m afraid that’s the case, but I can’t make those calls for you, Nora. You’re a grown woman now, and these are your choices.”
They were her choices, but some choices had very little wiggle room.
“I’ve been looking into adoption for the girls,” Nora said. “Another family, I mean. It’s all so messed up here, and I can’t do this without you. I’m certainly not doing it with Audrey as my go-to support, either.”
Her mother met her gaze sadly. “You’d give them up?”
“I don’t think this situation is good for them,” Nora said. “We could hope that things would get easier, but what if they don’t?”
Dina didn’t answer. Nora knew that her mother couldn’t help her to make this choice. She was the only one who could decide what she could live with. Easton’s mother had left him, and he resented her so much because she hadn’t been thinking about Easton and what was best for him—she’d only been thinking of her own escape. Nora didn’t want to make that mistake. She needed to do what was best for the girls, regardless of what it did to her.