Chapter Nine
“Dinner is ready. Everyone wash up,” Sandra’s mother called from the kitchen.
Waiting by the door that David just bounced through, Sandra met Paxton’s eyes. “You’re good with him.”
“Thanks.” The comment caught him off guard. How hard was it to be nice to a young kid? “He’s a really nice boy. I remember having that much energy when I was his age. Lots of days I wish I still had it.”
“You and me both.” She chuckled, the screen door slammed shut behind them as they entered the kitchen. “He is a bundle of energy. I have no idea how the teachers get him, or any of the boys, to focus in school.”
“I’m not a parent, but having been a young boy once, I remember my mother throwing us all outside to burn off our energy. I suspect that’s why schools have recess. So they burn off as much of that energy as possible outside the classroom.”
“He wants to play baseball.” Her gaze lingered out the window toward the large yard.
“That’s good. He’ll come home nice and tired.”
“He still has to make the team.” Her gaze darting back to his, she pressed her lips tightly together as she led the way into the dining room.
“Really? At this age I thought all kids get to play.”
“You think?” The softness in her eyes returned. Not that he expected anything less, but it was heartwarming how much she cared for her son. Too bad he wasn’t so sure about the boy’s father. The question was on the tip of his tongue, to ask what was the deal with David’s dad, but that was none of his business. He couldn’t imagine having a son and not spending time with him. Even now, David’s father was missing out on playing ball in the yard. Those were some of his best memories with his dad and brothers. “I could work with him to give him some more practice and help him play better.”
A light twinkled in her eyes. “You would do that?”
Paxton shrugged. “Sure.” Why wouldn’t he? He liked the kid, and to his surprise, really liked playing with him, especially when the boy accomplished something new and grinned like an Olympic medal winner. But just as important, he’d be spending time with Sandra.
“But you’re so busy.”
“It’s only time. Time is the greatest gift an adult can give a child.”
Her face crumpled, and her voice dropped. “Too bad his father didn’t think that way.”
Paxton came within an inch of broaching the subject of David’s father, instead, he snapped his fingers. “As a matter of fact, Quinn played varsity baseball. He was really good and I bet he’d be glad to help teach David the finer points of the game.”
“Wait, you’re telling me you’re going to have your brother who never cracks a smile teach my son baseball?”
That had him laughing. “Don’t let the grumpy face fool you. He’s a marshmallow inside. As a matter of fact, I bet we can gather some of my nieces and nephews along with brothers and cousins and have makeshift games at the ranch. There’s plenty of space for a baseball diamond.”
She shook her head. “I can’t let you drag your whole family into helping David learn to play.”
“Why not?”
Her eyes rounded and her jaw dropped slightly open, slammed shut, then dropped open again, only no words came out.
“It will be fun for everyone. And who knows, maybe David will make friends with the next generation of Farradays. We all sure had fun together when we were kids.” Grinning himself, he did his best to cajole a smile out of her. “Remember the time we had horse races across the field and not till you’d won on Shadow did Adam tell us that he didn’t like having a rider on his back?”
“If I hadn’t been so excited from winning, I might have passed out.” She chuckled. “Shadow was a sweet horse.”
“And only you could ride him.” About to offer more thoughts on improving David’s ball playing, her mother entered the dining room.
Standing in the doorway with David in tow, her mother beamed at them. Anyone could see the woman was delighted to have her family close by again. “We ready to eat?”
“Starved.” Sandra’s smile seemed to reach her eyes once again.
That made him happier than it should. He approached the back of her seat and pulled out her chair. The even brighter smile she tossed his way as she sat down made him so very glad his mother had taught him manners, despite his arguing that girls could pull out their own chairs as easily as boys.
Reaching for his hand to one side of her, and David’s on the other, she bowed her head.
Her mother snagged Paxton’s other hand to complete the circle. “Sandra, would you say grace tonight?”
Paxton listened to every heartfelt word. The Farradays still said grace before every meal—they had for as long as he could remember—but somehow, in such a small family setting, it felt different.
“Amen.” Sandra lifted her gaze.
“Amen,” the table echoed.
“Please pass the cornbread.” David stuck out his arm. Apparently manners mattered to David’s mother too.
“You can’t eat just cornbread.” Mrs. Baker passed the dish to her grandson.
The kid gave a momentary pout before nodding at his grandmother as she added a slab of meatloaf to his dish. “I also made your favorite. Mac and Cheese.”
That totally changed the child’s disposition and Paxton had to bite back a grin.
“Is that all you’re serving yourself?” Mrs. Baker shook her head. “Don’t be bashful at my table.” Without asking, she took a large scoop of mac and cheese and plopped it on his dish.
Thankfully, he was hungry enough to eat it all, but his mama had raised him to always leave the table a little hungry when invited to a family’s home for dinner.
David’s eyes went wide. “You’ll eat all that?”
“Hardworking men—and growing boys—need lots of good food.” His grandmother smiled down at the young boy.
“Even the vegetables.” Paxton stabbed at the broccoli and shoved it in his mouth, rubbing his tummy as if he’d just eaten a banana split. He had a feeling that Sandra would appreciate a little outside vegetable encouragement. “Someday you’ll eat all this. Especially when you’re on a growth spurt.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like cooking for all those Farraday boys,” Sandra’s mother added broccoli on David’s plate.
Pausing his fork, midair, Paxton nodded. “The Farraday women can pack it away too.”
Sandra’s mother just laughed. “Oh, I bet those dinners were a sight to see.”
Thinking back on family dinners, Paxton couldn’t help but smile. “When we were all young and getting too rambunctious at dinner, my mother used to get frustrated and tell us we were more feral than the six younger brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Of course, she was exaggerating.” Instantly his mind flashed back to the time that Ryan threw a biscuit to Quinn and the next thing he knew, all six boys were tossing bread around like a baseball in a triple play. That was probably one thing Sandra would most definitely not want him to teach her son. Too bad, it was an awful lot of fun when he was five years old.
So much was going through Sandra’s head as Paxton and David talked sports, dreams, and horses. Her mother laughed at way more than she should have but it was obvious to anyone watching that the woman was more than happy to have her only daughter and grandson home again. This is what family should have always been like. Why had she waited so long to make a change? Maybe because deep down she didn’t want to admit her parents had been right and she had been a deluded young adult?
“Y’all go on into the other room. I’ll clean up here.”
Paxton pushed away from the table and standing up, lifted his empty plate and glass.
“None of that.” Her mother shooed him away. “Guests don’t clean up in this house.”
“I don’t mind.”
All her mother did was put her fists on her hips and smile at him.
A moment later, Paxton set the dish back down on the table. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Can I ride my bike?” David looked up at her.
That was one thing he’d not had in the city and Sandra was so very happy that her mother had given him one as soon as they’d arrived. “Sure, but you have to stay close enough for me to watch you from the front porch.”
Pushing the porch swing so it moved slightly, Paxton watched David as intently as she did. “He’ll sleep well tonight.”
“That’s the hope.” Sandra lifted her feet letting the swing do its thing. She liked the slow back and forth rhythm as she watched David ride, turning in neighbor’s driveways. She was hopeful that there would be children nearby for David to play with, but so far he was on his own. They fell into a comfortable silence, listening to David’s commentary as he rode back up and down the driveway. She sucked in her breath when he lifted his arms and shouted, “Look, Mom, no hands!”
“David,” was all she had to say for him to grab hold of the handlebars again.
Paxton chuckled. “They do say boys will be boys. We all did. The worst that will happen is he’ll fall over, scrape a knee or chin, then get back on and keep going. It’s in our genes.”
“I suppose I should be happy that living in the city he knows how to ride a bike at all.” She’d made sure he could do that so he could keep up with the other kids, but with nowhere to ride in that dumb apartment, once he’d outgrown the old bike she’d bought at a garage sale, she hadn’t bothered to replace it, until now.
The sun began to dip below the horizon. Sandra glanced at her phone, surprised at how quickly time had passed. A person could get used to this pace, and the company. Though she wasn’t going there. Not now. “David. Five more minutes.”
“More time. Please?”
She shook her head. “It’s late. You have to take a bath and get ready for bed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The way the poor kid sighed anyone would think she’d told him he’d have to eat another plate of broccoli.
“Like I said,” Paxton shrugged at her, “boys will be boys. My mother would set a timer for us. It had bright colors. She’d place it on the porch rail and once it went off, we were done. We could negotiate with her, but not that timer.”
“Never thought of that. Might be a good idea.” She glanced at Paxton. He must have a thousand places he could be other than this porch swing. “I didn’t mean to keep you here this late. You’ve got a long drive back to the ranch.”
“The ranch and the road aren’t going anywhere. This is…” he glanced from David to her, “nice.”
Her heart did that little flutter thing that both excited and scared her. Shaking her head, she looked at her watch. “Time’s up.”
David pulled his bike up to the porch. “I’m tired.”
She almost shouted hallelujah. Some nights, getting him to settle down when he’d spent all day indoors was challenging. Tonight she suspected he was going to collapse before they said their prayers.
The bike nestled into a corner on the porch, David shuffled his feet, hesitating.
“Let’s get going,” Sandra nudged him forward.
The kid’s feet seemed to root into the wooden floor. “Mr. Farraday?”
“Yes?” Paxton stood beside her.
“Can you stay and read me a story?”
Before Sandra could say anything, Paxton spoke up. “I’d love to, sport.”
David’s face could have lit up the neighborhood. “Really?”
“Really.”
For the first time in ages, there was no need to negotiate bath and bed time. David raced into the house. From where she stood, she could hear her son calling out. “Grandma, can I take a really fast bath?”
The words floated out onto the porch and Paxton actually chuckled. How could any one man have so much patience with a child that wasn’t his?
She motioned for Paxton to follow her inside. “Why don’t you have a seat for a minute. I suspect this will be the fastest bath in the history of bedtime.”
“Don’t rush on my account.”
“Oh trust me, I won’t have anything to do with it.”
By the time she reached the top of the stairs, David was already wrapped in a towel. Turning to her mother, she didn’t say a word, but the question was obvious.
Her mom shrugged. “He even managed to wash behind his ears. Clean as a whistle.”
Another minute and David was in his pajamas and calling down the stairs for Paxton to come to their room.
By the time Paxton took the steps two at a time, David had already crawled into the folding bed. It was hard to miss the way Paxton casually glanced around the room, his gaze pausing at the bed, the two nightstands on either side covered with books, creams and what nots that two women kept at their bedside, then over to David. “All ready, buddy?”
David nodded and handed him a book. The story had been one Sandra had loved as a child.
Seated at the foot of David’s bed, Paxton opened the book to the bookmark. His voice took on a beautiful cadence as he turned each page doing every voice and every sound effect. Even Sandra could have fallen asleep to the melodic tones of the rise and fall of his words.
Her son snuggled further down into the covers, no doubt lulled deeper into his exhaustion by Paxton’s delivery.
This man was the real deal. The kind of man that made a woman believe in knights in shining armor and Prince Charming. Somehow Paxton Farraday seemed to be both; just the thought of it warmed her to her toes. She needed to get a handle on her imagination, there simply was no way her upside down world could lead to happily ever after. Her gaze drifted back to Paxton, pulling the blanket up over the sleeping child’s shoulders as he softly whispered, “Sleep tight, buddy.” Then again, didn’t they say that truth was stranger than fiction?