Chapter 5 #2
Home. Our home. Together. I liked hearing that as much as come to bed, and as much as I liked knowing that I wouldn’t be in that bed alone tonight. I’d kept the pillow wall in place, but the bed was somehow so…empty. “If there are leftovers. It’s okay if everything’s eaten before we leave.”
“I can’t eat much in the morning, but by dinner, I’m ravenous.”
“You don’t have to explain it. I don’t care if you shove every morsel in your mouth tonight.”
Vulnerability shone in her big eyes. “It’s a lot of food.”
“I will order my own buns and mozzarella sticks and have an eating contest with you, but I’m warning you—you’ll lose.”
She chuckled, and the tension drained out of her. The radiance returned to her face. My brother tried to dull her. She had been his shiny object, and he had taken the shine out of her. I’d make sure it was back before this marriage of ours was done.
She continued to fiddle with her napkin, but she was no longer ripping it. “So? The mower?”
“I found a push mower, an old snowblower, a weed whacker, and a lot of engine parts. I think I can get all the equipment running.”
“You like fixing small engines?”
I nodded. “The yard work was usually left up to me. I used it to make extra money while working on building my business.” I smiled tightly. “It got me out of the house.” Which had been critical for my mindset.
A big man in jeans, boots, and a plain shirt walked by. It was the most common style of the area. Not enough that I felt out of place without cowboy boots, but Coal Haven was heavy on the farming and ranching. The vibe was laid back, and I’d been enjoying my time here.
He did a double-take at Clover, and the shorter woman with him, who had a shorter, sassy hairstyle, noticed.
She grinned. “Clover! So nice to see you.”
Clover looked up like she was surprised to be recognized. “Lyric, Stetson, hi.” She sat straighter. “This is my, um, Van Wagner. Evander is Stetson’s cousin, and another cousin of his is Eliot’s brother-in-law.”
“We get to be a tangled web around here,” Stetson joked.
The couple ran their curious gazes over me. The woman flashed a kind smile as we shook hands.
“Nice to meet you.” Her Van? How else was she supposed to introduce me? Meet my husband for the next three months, Sullivan. Please don’t call him Sully. He likes to be referred to as a family vehicle with maximum capacity.
Lyric tucked her arm through her husband’s. “I heard you moved here, and you’re working in the oil fields?”
Clover nodded. “I work out of Williston, but I’m remote.”
“It’ll be good to see you around,” Stetson said. “Next time we have a gathering, you’re invited.”
Clover grinned. “I’m always invited.”
“But this time you can make it.” Lyric glanced at the back of the restaurant, where the host was awkwardly standing by an empty table. “We’ll see you around. Enjoy your meal.”
When they were gone, I couldn’t help my curiosity. “They invited you knowing you were in Omaha?”
“The Barrons are a close and welcoming family.” She thought for a moment. “And big like ours, but most of them are cousins and not siblings.” She silently counted her fingers. “There’re eight of them, I think? And now five of us Dukes between Coal Haven and Crocus Valley.”
What was it like to have that many people in the family? Growing up, I thought every nuclear family was like mine—small and cold. I knew better now, but my fiancée’s family had also been small with a chilly vibe. That might’ve been only toward me. I didn’t care anymore.
Yet Clover’s family was warm and inviting. Was it the number of them? The more the merrier? They were supportive without prying and protective without being controlling.
Her phone buzzed. She glanced at her purse but didn’t answer it. Was she worried about being rude? Was she really that thoughtful?
“Go ahead,” I said.
She smiled. “It’s not work. It’s probably that big family I was talking about.” She gave in and looked at her phone. Her grin froze. “Speaking of gatherings. My family’s having one.”
“When?”
Her laugh was nervous. “Poppy and Jensen invited us out next weekend. They’ll grill.”
Hunger cramped my belly. I was waiting for my food, but it’d been forever since I’d had a beer on the back deck while a steak or burger sizzled next to me.
Her brows drew together. “Is that okay with you?”
“Of course you can go. I’m not your keeper.”
Her rigid smile fell. “You don’t want to go?”
“I’m invited?”
“We’re a package for the next two and a half months. I’ll warn you—it might be every Duke in town—or former Duke.”
The kindling of excitement in my belly was new. A big family gathering. That would be like going to the zoo and seeing how other mammals’ family units worked. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Her grin brightened like the sun. “There’ll be another get-together in mid-September. That one will be everyone.” Her gaze lifted over my shoulder, where Lyric and Stetson had gone. “And I do mean everyone.”
“By everyone, you mean…”
She set her phone down. “Pumpkin harvesting.”
“Like a pumpkin patch?” I’d never been to a pumpkin patch. Why’d that sound like the perfect weekend activity?
“Nope.” There was that sheepish smile again. “Violet’s husband raises pumpkins, and he supplies local breweries, pumpkin patches, and pantries. And it’s become like a yearly thing for him to invite his side of the family, and now Violet’s. And then the Knights.”
The Dukes and the Barrons. “Who are the Knights?”
“Lily’s sister-in-law.”
“The one who’s married to a Barron.” When she nodded, I ran through the families like I was doing calculus. “How big is their family?”
“There’s, um…” She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and figured out the equation in her head. “Five? Eight Barrons, five Knights, and, if Jasper makes it, six Dukes. Couples in total? Like, sixteen? Don’t ask me to tally the kids.”
“Holy shit.” I didn’t even think about the kids. “And they all get together in one place?”
“It’s a big property that Grandma Annie left Violet.”
Her family and her extended family and their in-laws were fascinating. Instead of getting a headache, I was invigorated. Her crew was…interesting. My life had been quiet for so long. “Did Violet have to be married to get her place?”
“Yes, but Evander rented it before that.”
“That’s how they met?”
“No, it was a one-night stand at the local motel.”
I coughed out a laugh. “Okay.” I liked my work, but this was all the social interaction I’d missed out on over the last couple of years. “Alder and Daisy? He kind of told me.”
“Really? Makes sense. He’s so happy he won her back. They were high school sweethearts who got married and divorced before Daisy was done with college. Then, fifteen years later, she needed a place to live, and he wanted the house.” She leaned over the table. “He wanted her back so bad.”
“He used Grandma’s trust to win his wife back?”
Her smile was triumphant. “And before you ask, yes, Poppy and Jensen were going to get married to get the house that she turned into her office. But they fell in love before they married.”
“And Jasper?”
Her grin faltered. “I don’t know. There’s a time limit from when Grandma passed. I think it’s two years from now, but Jasper would have to be married in a year. His property is a cabin by the river with some acreage.”
“Nice.”
“I think it would be, but he’s been managing the Knight family ranch, and he likes it.”
The threads running through the three families were plentiful. Then there was me and Clover. I brought nothing to the table, but I could help her get the house.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to go. I know we’re a lot.”
I hadn’t had a lot. “Is it like the wedding?” I had been in front of her parents and siblings, marrying their loved one, whom I barely knew, with all their wary, slightly disapproving eyes on me.
It wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat.
Would every sibling want to tell me that they’re watching me, and one word from Clover, and I’d disappear?
“Oh no. It’s much more fun and laid back. Nothing formal. We just like to hang out. We were all scattered for most of our twenties.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“Elijah never talked about anyone. Didn’t you have cousins or big gatherings?”
“I was close to my grandparents, but they weren’t close to Elijah or my parents.” I paused as our food was delivered. Drawing a breath grew difficult when Clover’s face lit up.
She squeezed her hands like she was going to pump her fists in the air. She gave the server a big smile. “Thank you so much.”
This was the Clover I’d seen glimpses of when she’d been over for dinners. The radiant girl who wanted to celebrate everything. She’d hidden herself around my parents, and she’d likely tempered her personality in response to my brother’s controlling ways.
How would she be around people who loved and accepted her? I’d seen her with them in Vegas, but the circumstances hadn’t been ideal. I had witnessed their unconditional support, and it had gotten to me—so much so that I had stepped into the shoes my brother left behind. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
And that wide smile got aimed my way.