Chapter 15 #2
This time, Lottie’s laughter was louder behind her hand.
Jameson cleared his throat. “I assure you, Kace, I would never . . . I am not trying to . . . I am not the bull . . .” He could feel his face heating. How could a four-year-old child reduce a grown man to a simpering red-faced bumpkin with just one question?
Lottie dropped her hand and somehow managed to erase all humor and don a serious expression. How could she do so that easily? Was that something mothers practiced? “What Jameson is trying to say is that grown men and women share separate sleeping quarters when they aren’t married.”
“Oh.” Kace nodded as if the new information made perfect sense. Bo was back inside the doghouse and was talking with Rascal, clearly not interested in or following the conversation.
Lottie shot Jameson a smug look.
Jameson inwardly sighed. He should have stayed out of the conversation from the start.
Her lips still twitching with the need to smile, Lottie returned her attention to Kace. “That’s the reason Jameson is sleeping in the barn with the animals.”
“Because you’re not married,” Kace persisted, “and you don’t want him mating with you?”
Jameson turned his gaze heavenward, too mortified to even look at anyone now.
“That’s right.” Lottie’s voice remained calm and matter-of-fact. She was good at this, much better than he was. “A man and woman need to be married before they share a bed.”
Kace fell silent.
Thank heavens for small miracles. Jameson allowed himself to peek at Lottie, only to find her watching him with the same humor in her eyes as before.
I’m sorry, he mouthed.
It’s okay, she mouthed back.
Kace jumped to his feet, a huge grin filling his face. “I know what you can do, Jameson.”
Jameson hesitated, still slightly traumatized from the discussion they’d just had and praying it wouldn’t continue.
Before he could formulate a response, Kace began hopping with excitement. “Jameson can marry Mother and become our new father.”
“Our new father?” Bo scrambled out of the doghouse. “Yay!”
“Now, boys,” Lottie started.
“Please, Mother. Please?” Kace latched onto her hands and peered up at her with an earnestness that tugged at Jameson’s heart. “I really want Jameson to be our new father.”
“Me too!” Bo pushed to his feet and reached for Lottie’s hands as well.
“It would be so perfect,” Kace continued. “Jameson can help us with everything we need around the ranch and keep Vinnie away.”
The humor in Lottie’s eyes had rapidly evaporated. “We can get along without him or any man.”
The boys weren’t listening to her. Instead, they were chattering and jumping.
Jameson was at a loss on how to wrangle the conversation back around.
“Boys.” Lottie clapped her hands to get their attention. “Listen up.”
Jameson stuck his fingers between his lips and whistled, the piercing sound finally silencing the two.
Lottie gave him a grateful look.
It was the least he could do after his careless remark had started the whole conversation rolling downhill.
“Boys,” she said again firmly. “Jameson and I will not be getting married, and that’s the last I want to hear about it.”
“We can go to town and find the reverend. Mimmi said that’s what you’d need to get married.”
When had the boys been talking to Mimmi about marriage? “We’re not going to town.”
“But we want a father.” Kace’s lips formed into a pout.
“Jameson is an employee, and that’s all he’ll be.”
“He would make a good father, though.”
“I’m sure he would—”
“He’ll be able to move out of the barn and stay in the house.”
“I’m just fine in the barn,” Jameson blurted.
“But Mother said the barn is for animals.” Kace’s voice held a determined note, not unlike Lottie’s. “Besides, if you move to the house, you can share the bed with Mother.”
“Where will Mimmi sleep?” Bo piped in.
“On a pallet with us, the way she used to when Father was alive.”
The boys were so quick with their statements that the panic from moments ago came rushing back. Jameson needed to cut them off before the talk of mating came up again. “Now, boys,” he started. “As much as I like your mother, marriage is a big decision and can’t be made lightly.”
“Jameson is right.” Lottie echoed him hastily. “It’s a big decision, and one we won’t be making.”
Kace jutted his chin. “But Jameson said he likes you—”
“Kacey Wilkes.” Lottie leveled a stern look at the boy. “That’s enough. You’re talking back and being disrespectful.”
He held Lottie’s gaze defiantly. “I want a new father.”
Jameson wished he had the authority to chastise the boy, but he’d already said too much. Because the fact was, he wasn’t Kace and Bo’s father and had no right to talk to them as if he were.
“Go inside, both of you.” Lottie cocked her head toward the house. “Kace, you’ll sit at the table and not have any privileges until you apologize for your disrespect.”
Kace held Lottie’s gaze for another moment. Then without a word, he stomped toward the house. A few seconds later, Bo raced to catch up with him.
When the two were out of earshot, Jameson released a tight breath. “I’m really sorry, Lottie.”
“It’s not your fault.” Her shoulders slumped.
“But I brought up . . . you know what.”
“This was bound to happen sooner or later, even without you here.” Her voice contained a hint of sadness.
He had the sudden urge to draw her close, wrap his arms around her, and just hold her. She’d had to shoulder the parenting alone for so much of the boys’ lives and shouldn’t have had to. She deserved to have a husband who could help her bear the load.
The boys deserved a father too. They also needed one to help with the discipline and set an example of how to respect a woman.
Could he be that husband and father?
At the questions, he waited for protest or excuses or even hesitancy to swell within him. But he didn’t feel any of that. Instead, a strong rush of desire filled him—the desire to step in and become the man they needed.