Chapter 14
CONSTANCE ROMANO
“You’ve already met Martha and Smokey, haven’t you?” I asked.
“We have,” my dad’s girlfriend, Bex, answered.
Dad laughed before he tattled, “Ziggy has a thing for Martha.”
“Is it weird to admit that I think I’m in love with her?
” I kept walking but looked over my shoulder in shock at Uncle Ziggy.
Before I could say anything, he added, “And that I’m smart enough to be afraid of her husband but dumb enough to think kidnapping her and taking her back to New York with us is probably worth the risk? ”
When it registered that my uncle was actually serious, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Every person I knew adored Martha, but no one more than her husband. It was obvious Ziggy had lost his marbles if he believed he’d ever get out of that situation alive.
“He wouldn’t do it,” Dad assured me, but then he studied Ziggy’s face before he asked, “Would you?”
“No! I wouldn’t do it!” Ziggy said in exasperation. In a calmer voice, he admitted, “But I’ve thought about it.”
Rin was wheezing with laughter but managed to choke out, “The funniest part isn’t that you want to kidnap my grandmother, but that you think Papa Smokey is the only thing you’ve gotta worry about!
Ask someone what happened the last time Gamma was kidnapped.
You’ll find that although Papa Smokey will step in, Gamma can take care of herself just fine. ”
“Wait. The last time?” Bex asked in shock.
“The only time I know of,” Rin answered with a shrug. “Seriously, though, you should ask someone to tell you the story. Gamma would die for any of her children or grandchildren, and she’d take more than a few bad guys with her on the way out.”
“That’s not making a case against kidnapping her,” Ziggy told him. “She sounds like the perfect woman.”
We had finally gotten close to the porch, and I was horrified when I heard Smokey say, “She is the perfect woman, but you might want to keep that kidnapping plot in your pocket because I don’t think she’s ready to leave me quite yet.”
Ziggy cleared his throat before he nodded and said, “Mr. Forrester.”
Dad stuck his hand out and shook Smokey’s before Zach’s cousin Simmy did the same.
There was a twinkle in Smokey’s eyes as he shook Ziggy’s hand, and I was surprised to see my uncle cower a little under the gaze of the older biker when I knew he’d gone up against dangerous men many times since he and Dad took over the family business.
I stepped into Smokey’s arms for one of those wonderful hugs he passed out so freely, and when I pulled my head back to smile at him, I said, “I had my dad bring some snacks from home for you and Martha.”
“Some of those marshmallow cookies?” Smokey whispered eagerly.
“Four boxes,” I whispered back, as if it was our little secret.
“Darlin’, you do know the way to a man’s heart,” Smokey said before he kissed my cheek. “What did you bring for Martha?”
“You’re not going to share with her?” I asked in mock outrage.
“You didn’t say I had to!”
“Maybe if you share your Mallomars, she’ll share a few of the black and white cookies he brought for her.”
“You’re spoiling us, Stan.”
“You loved them both so much when you were at my place that I knew I couldn’t come empty-handed.”
“You can always be our guest, whether you bring treats or not,” Smokey assured me before he kissed my cheek again. He smiled down at me and winked. “But feel free to bring them anyway.”
Rin gave Smokey a hug and asked if his fathers had arrived yet. When Smokey assured him that they were already out back, Rin led us through the house and out the back door in search of his fathers and Gamma.
Once we found her, he enveloped her in a hug.
I smiled when I saw the love in her eyes as she talked to him.
Of course, I got a hug, too, and held on a little longer than I probably should have because hugging her felt like the safest place in the world.
It felt like coming home, although I wasn’t quite sure how to put that into words for anyone who hadn’t met her.
Once she’d greeted my dad, Bex, and Simmy, I raised my eyebrows when I heard her seemingly flirting with Uncle Ziggy. When I looked at Rin, he just smiled and tipped his head toward the porch where Smokey was watching the show with a smile.
I hadn’t known them long, but every time I got to hang out with Martha and Smokey, the love they still shared after all their time together amazed me and was definitely something I aspired to have.
I knew that Rin felt the same way, as did all the other family members who loved them and looked up to them too.
When Rin had finished greeting his grandmother, I pulled the cloth bag off my shoulder and held it out to her. “I asked my dad and Bex to bring you guys some things from New York.”
“Those black and white cookies?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bex answered.
“That was so nice of you! Thank you so much,” Martha said as she took the bag and looked down inside. “And four boxes of the ones Smokey liked.”
“Yes, and if you want to ration them out, they freeze very well,” I told her.
“They’re only available in the fall, but if you want more, I can ship them,” Dad assured her.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble,” Martha said.
She probably thought Dad was smiling at her reaction, but I knew it was because Smokey was standing a few feet behind her, eagerly nodding. My guess was that Smokey would be receiving a package in the mail within a week of my family getting home.
Once we were finished talking to Martha and Smokey, Rin led us across the yard toward the gate, where we could hear people talking and engines starting.
We were almost to the fence when Bex leaned closer and asked, “Do you think they have enough room in the freezer for a case or two?”
“I think Smokey likes them so much that Martha would either make space or buy a special freezer,” I told her with a grin.
“I love those two people,” Bex announced. “From the second I met them, I just knew they’d treat us all like family.”
“And they do,” Simmy said cheerfully. “She invited all of us to join them for Christmas. Did you know that?”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Rin said as he unlatched the gate and pushed it open.
“What exactly are we doing here again?” Ziggy asked.
“Riding dirt bikes,” Rin said. As everyone walked out, there were murmurs and sounds of astonishment at the size of the dirt track, like most of us had only seen on television.
There were some large pieces of machinery in the middle, and I saw people I knew operating them, moving dirt around as if to shore up the track.
“This is amazing!” Dad said in awe.
“Almost everybody who lives in town has dirt bikes or side-by-sides. If you see one you want to take for a spin, just ask whoever’s nearby. They’ll find the owner and get you set up,” Rin explained. “Looks like the boys already found some they like.”
I saw him pointing at a group that included my brothers and smiled as I watched some of the older Forrester men talking to them about the machines, probably explaining how to use them.
This wasn’t something any of us had any experience with, but I knew that my brothers would love this and become just as addicted to it as Rin seemed to be.
Dad must’ve realized that at the same time because he groaned and asked, “We’re never going to hear the end of this, are we?”
“My guess is that they’re going to ask you to transform the garage into a racetrack,” Bex replied with a grin. She nudged me with an elbow before she asked, “How long do you think it will be before he caves?”
“We’ll have to see if he gets out there and how much he enjoys it before I’m willing to wager on that,” I told her.
“Are you going to ride?” Dad asked.
“Rin has already spoiled me with riding at home, so probably not.”
“Spoiled you?” Ziggy asked.
“We’ve been riding on trails in the mountains, so I doubt riding in a circle will compare.”
“Even the kids are taking part,” Bex said in amazement as we watched Nix Forrester helping his daughter put on a helmet.
Once it was on, she tilted it back so he could get it clasped beneath her chin.
Phoenix rested his hands on her shoulders and talked to her for a minute before she nodded and walked with him toward a small dirt bike a few feet away.
“Oh my goodness! Is she going to ride that by herself?”
“That’s one of the girls who took us out at the paintball course!” Dad exclaimed.
“Of course she can ride,” Ziggy said in exasperation. “I’m starting to believe that the people in this family are all born knowing how to ride and shoot.”
Rin countered with, “They don’t let us use real guns until we’re old enough to understand the safety and responsibility that’s involved.”
“See?” Ziggy said in shock. “That right there lets me know they’re all crazy.”
“I thought you liked everyone.”
Ziggy looked at me as if I’d said something nuts before he said, “I’ve met a few whose level of craziness made me a little wary, but all in all, I think everyone is great.”
“Good.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Well, you were invited for Christmas,” I reminded him.
“Surely she wasn’t serious,” Bex said doubtfully.
“She was dead serious,” Rin assured her. “Gamma understands that not everybody can make it, but she wants to make sure that her entire family enjoys the holiday one way or another.”
“But we’re not her family,” Simmy argued.
“You are now.”
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ZIGGY ROMANO
“I’ve had so much fun this week,” Simmy said as he tried to brush the dirt off the sleeves of his hoodie. “This is better than any vacation I’ve been on lately.”