Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Lincoln
How I hit the jackpot when I hadn’t even bought a ticket, I had no clue, but I wasn’t about to question the fates.
I just accepted the gift of Livvy, my Livvy, sitting beside me just as much as I accepted the fact that her speech became clearer as I listened to a story full of nonsense, and laughing harder than I had in years.
“And the fairies came and waved their dust over her poor little car and made it all better.”
When she paused, I thought it was simply to take a much needed breath as she’d been jabbering practically nonstop since we’d hit the outskirts of town. Only when she pointed and said, “See!” did I glance back at the road.
No, not the road, the side of the road. It took another second for what I was seeing to become clear.
When we’d left this scene this morning, her pink Mini Cooper had been buried in a mess of barbed wire, splintered wood, displaced earth, not to mention a bush as large as some trees.
Now, however, it sat on the shoulder as if it hadn’t been in an accident at all.
Hell, even the tire that had been flat was now as firm as the other three. How in the hell…
Cluck, cluck, cluck.
The same party-line that spread gossip like wildfire also spread the word of someone in need.
Whether it be a pet sitter to tend to animals while someone went out of town, a request for advice in how to fix a broken pipe, or a shoulder to cry on when someone lost a loved one, the citizens of our community came through.
In fact, I had no doubt there were casseroles coming.
Despite thinking Livvy’s question was answered the moment I’d shut down Susanne’s attempt to finagle her way into Livvy’s life, I was no longer sure she wouldn’t make good on her promise of “Mama’s famous chicken and dumplings”.
If so, Livvy would discover yet another misassumption on Susanne’s part as I’d never once described that dish as delicious.
The chicken had always been bland and the dumplings were doughy, each one probably weighing as much as Livvy did.
Still, I was rather proud to live in a town where people cared for one another.
I flipped the signal on to make the turn onto the road that led to the ranch.
“Wait, shouldn’t we get my car?”
I shot Livvy a look. “And exactly who is going to drive it home? Certainly not a Little girl who was specifically instructed by a doctor not to put any weight on her ankle.” I made the turn and once off the main road, allowed the truck to roll to a stop.
“Then again, if you’re that anxious to take a tumble across my lap—”
Instead of instantly jumping in and telling me to keep driving, she gave me a smile that had my dick taking notice. Evidently, my pixie noticed as well as she giggled.
“As tempting as that dare is, I think it’s probably best you just keep driving. We wouldn’t want to take away the fairies’ fun now would we?”
“Heaven forbid we do that,” I said with a grin of my own that had her doing a bit of squirming herself.
Once I turned the last corner and began to climb the rise, she strained to sit forward. I was about to instruct her to sit back when I realized that there were tears rolling down her face.
“Hey, what’s wrong!”
“It’s your house!”
“My house?” I looked from her to the house half-fearing it would be engulfed in flames or perhaps had been taken away by another freak tornado. Instead, all I saw was the white farmhouse with its wraparound porch. I swiveled to look at her again only to have her burst into sobs. What the holy hell!
“Luther!” she screamed so loudly I was pretty sure my ears would be ringing for at least an hour. “Lincoln, it’s Luther! See!”
I chuckled. “Yes, pixie, I see.” I gave up on any pretext of trying to curtail her enthusiasm. Especially when Luther vaulted over the porch railing and had her door open before I’d come to a complete stop.
“Hi!” she yelled and laughed as Luther swiftly unbuckled her seatbelt and dragged her from the truck.
I opened my mouth to remind him she was hurt, but I might as well have been attempting to yell into a typhoon.
He had her cradled in his arms, bridal-style, as he twirled her in circles while she laughed and cried and tried to speak all at the same time.
Once I was sure he wasn’t going to drop her, I climbed out of the truck and just watched.
There was an aura encircling the pair that had them glowing.
It filled me with a feeling so intense I almost went to my knees.
So this is what love felt like. My brother and my girl, my life, twirling like the Tasmanian devil.
It was the most incredible sight I’d ever seen.
Right up until the moment I saw the tip of Luther’s boot slip beneath a root of the huge oak tree shading the front lawn.
I’d never moved so fast in my life nor been as terrified as I was in the time it took me to get to them. I had Livvy in my arms even before she could understand she’d been falling.
“Oopsie,” Luther said.
“Oopsie?” I echoed, totally stunned to hear that word out of my twin’s mouth.
I was saved from saying anything I’d regret when Livvy parroted, “Oopsie,” and then collapsed into giggles.
When Luther joined her, his laughter ringing out, I just shook my head and muttered they were both certifiable as I carried Livvy up the porch steps.
When the screen door swung open, I wondered how Luther had managed to get ahead of me, then I realized it wasn’t my brother, but his girl.
“Get in here before you two break her other leg,” Kate said and with a huge smile, added, “Welcome home, Livvy. It’s been far too long.”
Livvy looked up and I watched as confusion was replaced with recognition. “Kate!”
As the two women began a repeat of the squealing and laughing, Kate bouncing like a jumping bean and Livvy attempting to match her step for step by wiggling like a worm in my arms, I could only smile and bask in the pure joy of how this all just felt so very right.
“Hey, I wasn’t the one—” I began as sternly as I could which, granted, wasn’t stern and about as effective as pissing into the wind and not expecting any splash back. Giving up the blame game, I changed tactics and said, “I could use some help here,” as Luther joined us.
He didn’t hesitate or ask for clarification.
Instead, he stepped around me and corralled Kate by mimicking me and scooping her up into his arms. As the pair we’d been since conception, we carried the women into what our mother called the front parlor and took seats on facing sofas, Luther arranged Kate’s legs to the left while I positioned Livvy’s on the right.
The only difference in our mirrored positions was that I then bent over to grab a needlepoint throw pillow and gently placed it underneath Livvy’s wrapped ankle.
For a moment we all just smiled at each other and then the girls were off again.
I grinned and simply kept my arm around Livvy’s waist to ensure she didn’t tumble off my lap.
I wasn’t exactly sure what the girls were saying or even how they were capable of understanding each other, but who was I to question?
It wasn’t until I smelled something that I even bothered to attempt to speak.
“Is something burning?”
The question didn’t have either woman even pause.
I looked across to Luther who grinned and as his lips began to pucker, I reached up to cover Livvy’s ears.
The whistle split the air and I was pretty sure I heard the livestock bellowing a bit as the girls’ eyes widened and Kate slapped her hand over her ears.
“Thanks.” I gave Luther a nod before I dropped my hands. “I thought you said you weren’t cooking.”
“I didn’t,” Luther began and then his nostrils flared. “Shit!” He didn’t exactly dump Kate off his lap, but he didn’t set her aside very gently either. When she realized why he’d gotten up, she jumped to her feet.
“Dinner!” she shouted and proved to be very agile as she leapt over the ottoman between the sofas and beat Luther to the door.
“She always did love to run,” Livvy noted as she looked after the girl who’d joined us on many adventures in our youth.
“She still does, though most of her practice is in trying to outrun Luther when he’s caught her doing—”
“Doing what?” Livvy asked when I caught myself.
“Sorry, not my story to tell,” I said at the same time Luther returned.
“Doing something naughty,” he provided as he dropped back onto the couch. “Like forgetting to turn on the timer.”
“Oh,” Livvy said, her voice quieter. “That’s okay. We had ice cream not that long ago.”
“No worries,” Kate declared as she came back into the room waving her apron behind her as if to hide the fact that wisps of smoke were swirling toward the front door. She plopped onto Luther’s lap. “We can grab something at the dance. You are coming, right?”
“I can’t,” Livvy said before I could. “Though I’d love to, not only don’t I have anything clean to wear, but to be honest, I’m kinda wiped out.” She turned to look up at me. “But, please, if you want to go, I’ll be fine here on the couch.”
“Not happening.” I immediately cut off any such idea. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Besides, unless I’m completely wrong, I’m guessing that we will be inundated with casseroles just about any time now.”
Her eyes widened. “But how can you be sure Susanne will tell them I’m here and not at Grammie’s?”
“I never doubted the ‘everyone wanting to help’ part of Susanne’s story, pixie, I just made sure she was on the same page as the rest of the town. Between Evelyn, Dr. Eastman, Judith, and Frank, I’m betting they had the right address to start with.”
As if reading from the same script, someone called through the screen, “Knock, knock. Anyone home? Supper’s ready!”
“See?” I said.
Kate said, “I’ll get it!”
“Oh, I don’t think so, missy. You’ve already burned one dinner. I’m getting this one,” Luther countered.
“Race you!” Kate said and was off like the wind before my brother even made it to his feet.