CHAPTER FOUR #2
“Quit picking on her, Dec,” a deep voice called out from the pool area. I turned, surprised to see the college guy was the one who’d spoken. He hadn’t looked like he was paying a bit of attention, but it seemed like he was.
“Okay, next,” Olivia made a face. “And Cal’s right—quit being an asshole, Dec,” she hissed quietly.
The next two children were the same size. They were a boy and girl holding hands. “I’m Tab,” the boy said. “And this is…”
“Let her speak for herself, Tab,” Cara said, putting a gentle hand on her little brother’s shoulder.
“I’m Bethie,” the little girl said in a quiet voice.
She was adorable. She had the same black hair as her oldest two sisters, but she had light brown eyes.
She was the only other kid who was dressed up besides Lufton and me.
She had on a pretty white dress with a big, pink bow around her waist. She had a matching bow in her hair, and she looked like the type of girl who could run and play all day but somehow never get wrinkled or dirty.
“We’re ten,” Tab said. “We’re twins, even though I know I look more like Lou than Bethie.” He pointed to the youngest Hargrave girl, who must be Lou. It was true. His light brown hair and dark brown eyes were definitely more like his younger sister’s than his twin’s.
There was a splashing sound at the pool, and I turned to see the college guy coming up the stairs.
Water sluiced off him, and I narrowed my eyes.
He looked familiar. He was also a really big guy.
He was tall, at least six-four or six-five, and his muscles were the kind that made me feel like what I was—a gangly teenager.
“Wait a minute,” he said, in a deep voice. He strode over, smiling, and kneeled beside the little girl. “Tell them more, Bethie.”
She grinned at him and leaned in to give him a hug. She quickly changed her mind. “You’re wet,” she whispered, wrinkling her nose.
“I am,” he chuckled. “Tell Declan’s new friends more about yourself.”
She shook her head, and her face turned pink.
He turned to Lufton and me. “So, Bethie is our real live Disney princess. She legit walks through the woods singing and birds land on her shoulder. Little woodland creatures come running over to see her every morning.”
“That’s not totally true,” she said in a quiet voice, finally facing us. “But some of it does happen,” she admitted.
The guy stood and ruffled her hair. “It’s mostly true,” he argued gently. “But good job speaking up.”
She beamed at him as moved to stand beside Declan.
“Yeah, so Bethie is the frog tamer that I told y’all about yesterday. And this is Callum,” Declan said nodding his head in the direction of the older guy. “He likes to pretend he doesn’t care about us now that he’s in college, but he still does.”
“He cares,” Cara agreed. “I think he just feels different from the rest of us.”
“Truth,” Olivia agreed. “Okay, let’s keep it moving.”
Callum stood there, arms crossed and ignored that they were talking about him. “You’re up, Lou,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“Louisa,” the next girl in line said, pushing her long, light brown hair out of her eyes.
It was a mess. She was a mess. Her shirt and shorts were dirty and torn.
She had scrapes and bug bites all over her arms and legs.
The rest of her family looked basically perfect…
and she did not. She looked like some sort of feral child they’d adopted or found in the woods.
She’d been the one who crawled up on Declan’s back. Her eyes danced with humor, and I liked her immediately. “I’m eight. They all think I’m wild.”
“Because you are, wild child,” Cara said gently.
“Lou is what they call me,” Louisa interjected helpfully.
“I think they could’ve put that together, Lou,” Olivia grinned and patted her sister’s head. “Okay, take over, Dec,” she ordered.
“Right. Well, you’ve probably noticed already that we’re like mirror images of the Hargraves. Sort of. They have five girls and one boy. We have five boys and one girl.” He turned and looked at Callum, who was staring longingly at the bikini-clad girl in the pool.
“Cal, are you going to do this or what?” Declan asked, his voice impatient.
“Yeah, I guess,” he sounded bored. “I’m Callum, I’m the oldest, and I’m not a Whittaker.
I’m in college, and I’m currently missing out on hanging out with my, um.
..” he glanced at the younger kids and changed whatever he was going to say, “girlfriend,” he finally finished.
He grinned but ignored the gagging sounds the younger boys made.
“Nice to meet y’all.” With that he gave us a wave and headed back to the pool.
We all watched him go, and within a minute he’d jumped back in the pool, grabbed the girl, and they were making out.
“Right. Girlfriend.” Aidan scoffed, looking skeptical, jealous, and amused all at the same time. “He’ll have a different girl in that pool tomorrow,” he said in a voice meant just for the older kids.
Lou, though, was listening closely. “Callum loves girls. He’s got all kinds of different girlfriends that come over. I can never remember any of their names,” she said. “And one time, I’m pretty sure he was having a party in the pool house with just him and three girls from a country club dance…”
“That’s enough, Lou,” Cara said, her face turning red. “That’s Callum’s business. He might not want to share that information with our new friends.
Lousia looked disappointed to not be able to divulge her juicy gossip.
“Callum’s last name is O’Leary,” Declan explained.
Wait. What? I turned and got a better look at him, and my mouth fell open. “Callum O’Leary? As in the star quarterback for Auburn?”
“Yep,” Declan grinned. “That’s him.”
No wonder his girlfriend was so hot. Not that he couldn’t have gotten her anyway with his looks.
There was so much going on, I had paid little attention to his face.
Now, I could tell exactly who he was. He had dark blond hair that was fashionably long and a little messy.
I recognized him from the cover of Sports Illustrated from last year’s season.
“Damn.” I was impressed. I also wanted to know why his name wasn’t Whittaker, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask.
“He’s our half-brother,” Declan volunteered, but that was all that was said on the subject. “He’s twenty, and he’s almost as good at football as I am,” Declan shouted, wanting his brother to hear him.
“I won’t embarrass you in front of your friends,” Callum called back with a smirk, then went back to kissing his ‘girlfriend’.
“Whatever.” Declan turned back to us. “I’m fifteen today, I play football, basketball, and baseball, and Willa Hargrave is my mortal enemy.” He turned and looked at the only blonde Hargrave, who narrowed her eyes at him.
“God. Quit embarrassing yourself, idiot.” She crossed her arms over her chest. She looked completely mortified, though Declan had a huge smile on his face.
I knew Aidan was next in line. He just shook his head at their back and forth.
“I’m Aidan,” he said. He didn’t look any friendlier than he had at dance practice.
“I’m fourteen.” He was shorter than Declan.
He also seemed to be the only Whittaker without bright blue eyes.
His were dark brown. Of course, I couldn’t see Callum’s eyes behind his sunglasses, but I had the feeling his were blue, too.
“Next.” Aidan’s introduction was brief, and that didn’t surprise me a bit. What did surprise me, though, was the small goat that ran up to him bleating and bumping its head against Aidan’s legs.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Lufton held up his hands. “I’m not able to ignore the elephant… er, goat… in the room. Who’s this little fella?”
“My goat,” Aidan said like everyone had a pet goat. “Her name is Athena.”
“She either thinks she’s a dog, a cow, or a pig. We haven’t decided yet,” Declan put in helpfully.
“Wow,” I said as the goat started bucking and running around Aidan in circles. “Why’d you name her Athena?”
“I like mythology. And she’s smart,” he grinned down at the goat, and I suddenly had the thought that there might be more to Aidan than met the eye.
Did he seem grumpy and kind of like an asshole?
Yes. But the smile he gave Athena made me think there were other layers to him.
“Next,” he said again, sounding more irritated.
A loud oinking interrupted him, and a small black and white pig practically danced over to him and rubbed against his leg. “This isn’t good timing, Davenport,” he whispered. He looked up and glanced at Lufton and me to see if we’d noticed.
Oh, we had noticed.
I couldn’t hide my smile. “Another pet?”
“Yeah,” he said shortly, but he bent down to scratch the pig behind his ears. The small pig made soft snuffling sounds of contentment.
Declan finally quit laughing at his brother and helped him out since Aidan looked like he’d rather do anything other than talk to us about his pets. “This,” he said, pointing at the pig, “is Davenport.”
The pig lifted his head in Declan’s direction.
“He knows his name?” Lufton said in wonder.
“Pigs are incredibly smart,” Aidan said gruffly. Davenport sat back on his rump and watched us.
“I have so many questions right now,” I said.
“I’m done answering,” Aidan said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Though he was a year younger than Lufton, Declan, and I, he had a lot more muscle. I wondered if he got those muscles from helping his dad around the farm.
Declan rolled his eyes. “You’re such a grump.” He turned to us. “What are the questions? I’ll answer them.”
Lou made a sound of impatience. “I want to go play,” she whined.
The youngest Whittaker boy grabbed her hand. “You have to stay with me until I’m introduced.”
“Fine.” She heaved out a sigh as if it was a major inconvenience.
Declan was still looking at us expectantly.
“How about two questions and then we move on?” Olivia suggested since the younger kids looked ready to break free and go play.