Chapter 17 #2
“Get out.” Jinx jerked back, her jaw hanging open. “And everybody’s allowed to know?”
“Hell, yeah.” Declan cleared his throat. “Heck, yeah.”
Jinx laughed—a sound like bright sunshine dancing on the air. “You are too funny sometimes. I’m glad you’re home safe, and I’m happy for you and Sydney. Is she coming over for supper?”
“She’ll be here. She said she wanted to see you and Jeffrey.”
“Of course, Jeffrey. He learned a new word while you were gone.” Jinx stepped away and offered him a big smile. “Just wait until he pulls it out at the dinner table. It’s a funny one.”
“I look forward to it.” Declan turned back to his horse but caught the tail end of someone slipping away. Logan, probably.
Logan, who seemed to always be around whenever Jinx was. Declan didn’t like it, but he understood it completely. Jinx was a bright shining penny to the young man.
That night at the table, plates were piled high, fruit punch and beer flowing freely. Declan looked down the table and counted eleven family and friends. Gratefulness rushed in at having this type of meal to contrast with the sweet, quiet ones he’d shared with Sydney.
Both special. Both experiences he needed in his life.
Jeffrey had asked to sit beside both Declan and Sydney, which put the little tyke directly between them as he chattered away a mile a minute. “Daddy said that was lots of mud. So much it was a mountain of mud. Sounds really squishy.”
Sydney answered him seriously. “A mountain of mud indeed,” she agreed. “And lightning and rain and wind. It was a very big storm.”
“Sounds perturbing.” Jeffrey dipped his little chin intently then tried to shove an entire soft taco into his mouth.
Jinx snickered, catching Declan’s gaze. She spoke softly. “So perturbing. You were perturbed, weren’t you, Declan?”
Tansy laughed, avoiding everyone’s gaze as she stared at the ceiling light and pretended to be busy chewing.
“That kid is going to have the vocabulary of a university professor by the time he starts grade one if you keep this up,” Jake warned.
“Do you find that perturbing?” Tansy offered. “It’s actually a scintillating goal to reach for.”
“Stop,” Jake groaned.
“Daddy? Are you okay?” Jeffrey leaned forward intently.
“Just fine, bucko. Eat your supper.”
After cleanup, they broke into small groups for a while but ended up meeting again around the fire pit.
Declan pulled out the small bear figure he was whittling and began to draw small shavings from its back, creating the texture of fur.
Sydney sat next to him, listening as Jeffrey told her a long story about the adventure he had taken that involved being a knight on horseback, and that Jinx and Sasha had taken him and Tyler Stone into a magical land.
The two ranch hands had called it a night, and Kevin had already gone to bed. Jake lifted Jeffrey in the air and flipped him over to suspend him by one ankle as he carried him around to give all his aunties and uncles a kiss good night on the cheek.
Tansy stretched her leg to the side and offered Jake a wicked smile. “You got him riled up. You get to put him to bed.”
“Yup.” Jake didn’t look one bit remorseful.
It was family, with a layer of sweetness made even better by the fact Sydney was there in an entirely different way than she’d been in the past.
Oh, she was still there for her friends, the three of them chatting easily about plans for the days ahead. Worries pushed aside—for now.
But Sydney was now there for him as well, and he knew it. Right down to the tips of his toes.
“I’m glad you have her.”
Declan glanced to the side. How had Jinx moved quietly enough to sneak up on him like that? “Nothing is set in stone, so don’t go jumping the gun. Okay?”
“I won’t. But I can almost see the way you guys are connected.” Jinx made a face. “And I don’t mean that other stuff that I interrupted before.”
Declan kept his expression as blank as possible. “Of course you don’t.”
She grumbled for a minute. “You think it’s funny.”
“It’s funny,” he assured her, offering a hug before she headed to bed.
In the end, he and Sydney were the final ones by the fire. She picked up a log and added it to the coals. “Just a little longer,” she said.
He shifted so she could lean into him, the two of them watching the flames dance. “Something on your mind?”
“I messaged my brother this afternoon,” she informed him. “Michael. The one Lexie was dating.”
“Oh. What’s up?”
Sydney tightened the linking of their fingers, using her other hand to stroke the connection. “Lexie asked me to be there while she explained what Grandpa Nate did.”
“That was a quick move.” He couldn’t imagine it would’ve been easy. “How did it go?”
“Michael was appropriately shocked. But then thankfully when he got mad, it was at our grandpa, and not Lexie. Although he did give her hell for not telling him up front.”
“That sounds positive.”
“It was.” Sydney let out a deep breath. “I thought the conversation might be terrible and heartbreaking, but after the initial shock was over, Michael’s biggest demand was for her to never leave him out of the picture again.”
“That’s amazing. Is she headed back to Toronto?”
Sydney shook her head. “Not yet. And I didn’t see this one coming, but Lexie told Michael that while she wants to be with him, she made a commitment to help me.
That I was also dealing with some nonsense caused by Grandpa Nate.
She wants to see that everything works out well for me, so she’s staying until Christmas for sure.
Michael is sworn to secrecy. He’s not allowed to tell Grandpa that he knows anything. ”
Damn. This was far more complicated and tangled than Declan liked. But as long as he didn’t have to keep all the stories straight himself, he supposed it was all right. “Did Michael get offered that wonder job yet?”
“No, but he’s also been pre-warned about that because of not keeping secrets.”
“Okay. So now we just have to tackle your funding issue—and then we can do the next thing.”
Sydney snuggled under his arm. “For the first time since this whole big ball of trouble started to unravel, I feel as if there might be a chance for things to simply work out instead of falling apart.”
He was glad she felt that way, although he wasn’t certain.
Michael had been more than reasonable. Grandpa Nate? He was the one who had caused problems in the first place.
Still, it was positive news for now, and as the two of them made their way hand-in-hand across the yard to Declan’s apartment, he pushed everything aside except the here and now and the woman he planned to hold all night.
The woman who curled up in his arms, languid and sated after their lovemaking, and proceeded to fall asleep sprawled over his body.
In the morning he happily went out to her truck and grabbed the duffel bag of clothes that she’d left there, whistling the entire trip. He hummed softly as they made their way into the house and enjoyed breakfast served up by a grinning Aiden.
Hell, Declan was one step away from breaking into song after he kissed her goodbye and she headed into town for the clinic. The yard was quiet, the fresh scent of rain lingered. The barn lights glowed softly. Everything felt right.
Of course he should’ve known better. Feelings like this were too good to last. Only when a man was at the top of the mountain could he get kicked hard enough to rollercoaster all the way down to the valley.
He stepped off the porch and came face-to-face with Logan.
“Declan. We need to talk.” Logan stared at the screen of his phone as if something might jump out and bite him.
When he glanced up, his face had drained of colour, his hands shaking as he held out his phone.
“It’s my brother. He sent me a whole shit ton of information.
..and a USB stick just arrived in the mail. I don’t know what the hell to do.”