Chapter Twenty-Seven
Everly stopped scrubbing the cabinet and smiled at the sound of Tanner and Ashton laughing. It was only when she looked up that she realized it was starting to go dark. She went to the window, and her hand came up to cover her heart when she saw them. They were walking back across the pasture, each carrying a bucket and a halter. Whatever Tanner was saying to Ashton had him laughing so hard that he was bending over.
The three of them had spent most of the weekend in here getting the apartment ready. She’d sent them off outside to have some fun a couple of hours ago. Tanner hadn’t wanted to leave her, but they’d both worked hard and done their fair share. Plus, she didn’t need them in the way while she was cleaning.
As if he sensed her watching them, Tanner looked up at the window and smiled when he spotted her. He waggled his fingers in that cute little wave of his, making her laugh. Ashton spotted her and waved, too. She waved back, loving seeing them happy together like that.
Since that conversation on Friday afternoon, Ashton had taken to calling Tanner Dad as easily and naturally as if it had always been true. Looking at them, both dressed the same in jeans and black denim shirts, topped by black cowboy hats, she could only hope that it would always be true.
“Come on, Mom!” Ashton yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
“Coming,” she called back. There was still a lot to do in here, but she needed to make sure that Ashton was ready for school tomorrow. She had a feeling that there was still some homework that might have slipped through the net.
She wanted to talk to Tanner after Ash had gone to bed, too. She was still concerned about what was going on with those two bigger boys, and just as concerned about what Tanner planned to do about them.
Tanner appeared at the top of the stairs. “Are you ready? Do you want me to do anything before we head up to the house?”
“I’m good,” she told him as she took off the rubber gloves she’d been wearing. “I’ll get some more done when we get home tomorrow.”
“You can stay at work later if you want to – if Corinne needs you to. Don’t forget that I’m going to pick him up from school.”
“Are you going to tell me what you’re planning?”
He gave her a wry smile. “I’ll tell you as soon I know. For now, all I can tell you is that I don’t plan to let anyone get away with bullying our boy.”
She went to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “Thanks, Tanner.”
He kissed the top of her head. “There’s no need to thank me, darlin’. It’s not like I’m doing you a favor – it’s as important to me as it is to you.”
“Come on, guys! I’m going up to the house.”
They smiled at each other, and Tanner took her hand as they followed him.
By the time Everly made it back downstairs after her shower, the table was set ready for dinner.
Ashton made a face at her from his seat at the smaller table in the nook. “Homework’s almost done,” he told her grudgingly.
She laughed. “I’m glad to hear it – and glad that I didn’t need to remind you.”
Ashton wrinkled his nose. “You didn’t need to remind me because Dad did.”
She wondered how long it would take before hearing him call Tanner dad didn’t make her breath catch in her chest – or if that day would ever come. She loved it, but she didn’t want to ever take it for granted.
She felt rather than saw Tanner approach and leaned back against him when he slid his arms around her waist.
“Are you ready to eat?” he asked.
“I am.”
“It’s about time,” said Ashton as he closed his book. “You took ages, Mom.”
She exchanged a smile with Tanner. He’d joined her in the shower and left her to recover from a mind-blowing orgasm while he dressed quickly and came downstairs to deal with Ashton and dinner.
“Hey, Uncle Ford! It’s dinner time,” Ashton called when he spotted Ford coming in through the back door.
“Hey, Ash. I’ll just…”
“Oh no, you won’t,” said Tanner. “Don’t think that we haven’t noticed the way you keep slinking off. We want to have dinner with you – unless you don’t want to eat with us.”
Ford shrugged. “I don’t like to intrude.”
“You’re not intruding! If anyone’s intruding, we are,” said Everly.
“No one’s intruding,” said Tanner. “We’re all just trying to figure things out and be respectful of each other, right, Ford?”
Ford gave Everly a rueful smile. “Yeah, that’s about it.”
“Well, can we figure it out right here and now? The way the apartment’s coming along, it won’t be long until we move in there. And I’d like to make the most of spending time with you before we do.”
Ashton went to stand next to Ford and leaned against him as he looked up at him. “Yeah, Uncle Ford, I’m still going to come and have dinner with you sometimes, but we don’t know how often we’ll invite these two, do we?”
They all laughed at that. “Don’t go getting me in trouble with your mom,” Ford told him.
“You’re not in trouble,” said Everly. “As long as you’re going to have dinner with us.”
As they ate, Everly felt as though her heart was full enough to overflow. She loved seeing Ashton chatting and joking with Tanner and Ford – his dad and his uncle. She still had moments when she wondered if it was wise to go so fast, but when those moments came around, she remembered what her mom and Cash had said. She might be taking a big risk, but the reward was so worth it.
“Do you have the school run covered for next week?” Ford asked.
Before Everly could answer, Ashton piped up. “Dad’s taking me and picking me up tomorrow.”
“All week,” said Tanner.
Everly wasn’t sure that she was thrilled to hear that news – even if Ashton was.
“Awesome! Oh, and Grandpa said he can come for me on Friday, if you like.”
Everly pursed her lips. Her dad had come over to hang out with Ashton a couple of times now, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about trusting him with the school run.
“Maybe, we’ll see how it goes,” said Tanner.
She knew that he was more concerned with figuring out the bullying situation than whether or not her dad was reliable.
The sound of Ashton slamming his fork down caught her by surprise.
“Ash? What’s the matter?”
He scowled at her. “Did you tell Dad not to let Grandpa come for me?”
“No. Why?”
“Because you don’t trust him.”
She sighed and put her own fork down. “It’s not so much that I don’t trust him, it’s just that we need to know that whoever comes to pick you up is going to be reliable.”
“Grandpa is reliable.”
“I hope that he is these days, but it’ll take a while before …”
“You don’t know! You think that he let you down when you came to visit him before we moved here.”
Everly sat back in her chair; she didn’t even know how he knew about that.
“You think that he just didn’t show up when he was supposed to meet you. He wanted to be there, but the bad men got him. And it was all Uncle Cash’s fault.”
“What? How do you know that?”
Tanner leaned forward. “It wasn’t Uncle Cash’s fault.”
“It was! He said so himself.”
Everly gave him a stern look. “Have you been listening to people’s conversations?”
Ashton huffed out a big sigh. “It’s not my fault if they talk while I’m waiting, is it?”
She closed her eyes. “No, I don’t suppose it is.” Her heart was racing. She’d told her dad that she was torn between being mad at him for letting her down and being worried that something might have happened to him. She dreaded to think what Ashton had said – that the bad men got him – might mean.
“Do you know what happened to the bad men?” Ford asked.
“Grandpa got away from them, and Uncle Cash took care of them.”
A shiver ran down Everly’s spine. She didn’t want to know what Cash’s version of taking care of people might look like.
If that hadn’t freaked her out enough, the look on Ford’s face as he turned to Tanner made her feel queasy.
“I hate to bring this up, but I’ve been wondering if there might be any bad guys lurking in the background.”
“What do you mean?” Everly asked.
Tanner blew out a sigh. “You know the other girls’ stories, right?”
She nodded. She’d been horrified to hear what had happened to each of the girls. Sierra’s fiancé had tried to kill her, Janey had almost died when a meth lab exploded, Laney and little Maya had been kidnapped, Callie had had a crazy stalker, and Shayna had been taken by a serial rapist.
Tanner reached out and took her hand. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. I’m going to make damn sure of it.”
“It’s been on my mind,” said Ford. “We’ve got your back.”
She looked at Ashton; she was more concerned about his safety than her own.
Tanner nodded. “Both of you.”
She shook her head to clear it. “But we don’t have that kind of craziness in our lives. There’s nothing…” Tanner raised his eyebrows as he held her gaze, and it finally dawned on her. There was no one out to get her, but her dad was another story.
“The bad guys wanted to hurt Grandpa, not us,” said Ashton.
“They’re not going to hurt anyone,” Tanner told him. “You heard what Uncle Cash said, he took care of them.”
“Yeah, but we need to look out for Grandpa, too.”
Everly covered her eyes with her hand. Of course she didn’t want anything to happen to her dad.
When they finally made it to bed later that night, Tanner wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to his chest.
“I love sleeping with you.”
She chuckled. “Likewise.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that – I mean it, I mean the sleeping part. Of course I love screwing your brains out at every chance we get but that was never in question. I can admit it now that I’m past it, but in the beginning, I was a little nervous about the sleeping part.”
“Aww.” She patted his chest. “If it’s any consolation, I was nervous about it to start with, too.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“It’s been a long time since I shared a bed with anyone.”
He scowled as he pressed his forehead against hers. “Let’s leave it at that, can we? I don’t want to think about it.”
“Think about what?”
“You, sleeping with someone else.”
She had to laugh. “That’s rich, coming from you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but I never shared anything important – anything of myself – with anyone until you. I know it was different for you, that’s why I don’t want to even think about it.”
“Aww.” She tightened her arm around his waist. “I love you.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I love you more. G’night, darlin’.”
“Goodnight.”
~ ~ ~
Tanner made sure that they arrived at school early on Monday morning. He parked the truck and turned to Ashton.
“You don’t need to come in with me. You can just drive through the line, and I’ll get out.”
“Not happening, bud. We’re going to walk over there together, and we’re going to stand with the moms till it’s time to go in.”
Ashton scowled. “The moms stand with the little kids.”
“Yeah, but they bring the bigger kids, too. Are you going to tell me who I need to deal with?”
The kid shrugged. “Don’t know what you mean.”
“Come on, Ash. If we’re smart about it, we can put an end to this before it gets started. Want to tell me what’s really going on?”
“No.”
“Okay, how about I make a few guesses, and you can tell me if I’m right or wrong.”
“I dunno.”
“Let’s try it, then. Someone’s been picking on you, and one of the things they said is that I’m not your dad, right?”
Ashton huffed out a sigh.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, you can just nod if you like.”
Ashton nodded.
“Whoever it was isn’t in your class. Is that right?” he added hurriedly, remembering that he needed to ask yes or no questions.
Ashton nodded again.
“They’re boys, there are two of them, and they’re a year ahead of you.”
Ashton met his gaze as he nodded again. “Do you know them?”
“I think I probably do. If I say their names, will you tell me if I’m right?”
“Yeah.”
“One of them is Cody Barnes, and the other one is Wyatt Tinley.”
Ashton didn’t need to say a word – his wide eyes and shocked expression confirmed Tanner’s guesses. “How did you know?”
Tanner gave him a wry smile. “Did your mom ever tell you that I was bullied when I was your age?”
“Yeah, but I thought she was just saying it to make me feel better.”
Tanner chuckled. “Nope. It’s true. I know how you feel, bud. I went through it, too. Right here at this school. And it might not seem funny to you right now, but I reckon that one day we’ll laugh about this. See, one of the kids who used to pick on me was Billy Barnes – he’s Cody’s dad, and the other one’s name is Lane – I bet you can guess who he is.”
“Wyatt’s dad?”
“That’s right. See, things don’t change much around here. History repeats itself.” He smiled. “Come on, let’s go do this.”
“Go do what? If their dads used to pick on you, won’t this make things worse?”
Tanner grinned. “Nope. It took me a while, but I figured things out with them. That’s going to make it easier for you to figure things out with Cody and Wyatt.”
When they got out of the truck, Ashton trudged along beside him looking as if he was headed for the gallows.
“It’s going to be okay; I promise.” He wanted to give the kid a hug to reassure him, but he knew better. The kids would only pick on him more if they saw that.
“They’re all looking at us.”
Tanner plastered a smile on his face and spoke out of the side of his mouth. “I know, that’s what we want.” He rested his hand on Ashton’s shoulder as they approached the gaggle of women waiting by the gates.
“Tanner MacFarland! I never thought I’d see the day.”
Tanner tipped his hat. “Sloane, good to see you.”
She shook her head at him. “What’s going on, Tanner? What are you doing here? Who’s this?”
Tanner kept hold of Ashton’s shoulder. “I’m bringing my boy to school.”
Sloane literally took a step back as she grinned at him. “ Your boy?”
He met her gaze and held it. “Yes, my boy. Ashton, this is Sloane, we went to school together.”
Ashton barely met her gaze as he nodded.
Sloane gave him a brief smile, but her attention was fixed on Tanner. He could see the wheels turning inside her head. There was no question in his mind that she would have already heard about Everly and Ashton, but now, his words had her trying to figure out if Ashton really was his son.
“ Your boy, huh?” she repeated. “Well then, that’s a story I want to hear.”
“I’ll tell you sometime, introduce you to his mom, Everly.”
Sloane nodded happily. “Okay, I’ll look forward to that.” She looked around at the other moms, many of whom were openly staring at them, watching the exchange. “I’m guessing that you came to me because I’m the biggest gossip?”
Tanner chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it that way, but…”
“It’s okay, I don’t blame you. Why take out an ad in the Gazette when I can spread the news much faster for you.”
“Thanks, honey.”
Her smile faded. “There’s a reason, isn’t there? What’s going on? Why do you need people to know?”
He glanced down at Ashton, not wanting to spell it out in front of the kid.
“Ah!” Sloane might be a gossip, but she was sharp. “Who’s been giving him what kind of trouble?”
Tanner made a face.
Sloane shot him an apologetic look. “Let me guess – Cody?”
“’Fraid so.”
“And Wyatt, too, I’ll bet?”
Tanner chuckled. “You got it.”
He ducked his head when she screeched, “Cody, get over here this minute, and bring Wyatt with you.”
Ashton stepped closer to Tanner when he saw the two boys approaching.
“Do you know who this is?” Sloane asked as soon as Cody and Wyatt reached them.
Cody looked at Tanner and mumbled, “One of the MacFarlands.”
“That’s right; this is Tanner MacFarland. Your daddy wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for the MacFarlands. So, what do you think you’re doing bullying his son? You should be looking out for him – and you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Cody and Wyatt were both busy studying the ground in front of them.
“Well? What have you got to say for yourselves?”
“I didn’t know. How come…? He’s new here. How can he be his son? He’s just some kid who says his dad’s a cowboy.”
“Damn straight his dad’s a cowboy. And don’t you ever call Ashton MacFarland just some kid again. He’s one of us. And him being new here means that you should be looking out for him. You’re going to be looking out for him from now on, aren’t you ?”
Tanner tensed when Cody glanced at Ashton. He was hoping like hell that this wasn’t going to make things worse for Ash instead of better.
“His name’s not MacFarland – he’s Ashton Welsh.”
“His name on the roster might be Ashton Welsh, but he’s Ashton MacFarland.” Tanner spoke without hesitation. It was only once he’d said it, and they were all staring at him – including Ashton – that he realized the weight of his words.
He gave the kid’s shoulder a squeeze. “Isn’t that right, Ash?”
The way Ashton smiled at him sealed the deal. Saying that his name was MacFarland might be a little white lie, but Tanner knew that he needed to make it true just as soon as he could.
Sloane grinned at him and nodded. “Hey, ladies,” she called. “I have some bad news for you all.”
“What’s that?” a couple of them asked.
“This is Tanner’s kid, Ashton. And Tanner is officially off the market.”
Tanner rolled his eyes as a few of the women laughed while others jokingly expressed their disappointment.
A couple of them came over to talk, and as he fielded their questions, he watched warily as Cody and Wyatt approached Ashton.
“Why didn’t you say that your real name’s MacFarland?” Cody asked.
Tanner grinned when Ashton glanced up at him and said, “I didn’t know if I was supposed to tell anyone yet.”
Wyatt pushed against him with his shoulder, but it was a friendly gesture. “Do you have your own horse and everything?”
Ashton grinned. “I do, his name’s Houdini.”
“Houdini? What kind of name is that?”
“It means he can escape from any enclosure you put him in if he wants to. He’s awesome.”
At the sound of the buzzer, the kids started moving toward the gate. Ashton turned back to look at Tanner. “See you later, Dad.”
That warm, buzzing filled Tanner’s chest as he said, “I’ll be here to pick you up. See you later, son.”
He was concerned that Cody and Wyatt might just be putting on a good show until they were away from the adults.
Sloane touched his arm. “Relax, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Watch this. Cody?”
“Mom?”
“What’s the deal with Ashton now?”
Tanner relaxed when both Cody and Wyatt grinned and said, “He’s one of us now.”
“That’s right,” said Sloane. “Have a good day, boys.”
Tanner cocked an eyebrow at Ashton, and he nodded. He didn’t seem worried anymore, either.