Chapter Eleven
Paxton looked around at his siblings and cousins pushing away from the table, carrying empty plates and glasses into the kitchen. With a brood this size and growing, Aunt Eileen ran the household with more efficiency than the Marine Corps. Even though he’d never been in the military, his cousin Ethan constantly confirmed the Marines had nothing on his aunt.
Owen brushed up beside him, his wife Connie only a few steps behind.
“Bro, what’s got you so quiet?” Owen asked.
“Not much.” He glanced at his aunt standing by the sink and smiled. “Just thinking about the immortality of the crab.”
“Oh, I’ve heard that one before.” Chuckling, Connie walked past the two brothers.
The truth was that Paxton had been thinking about Sandra and that unexpected hug pretty much all day. He could not remember the last time he looked forward to a date as much as he was to their date tomorrow.
The dishes piled high on the counter, the clean-up crew gathered around the sink, loading the dishwasher, scrubbing pots, drying whatever was hand-washed, and doing general kitchen cleanup. The rest of the group had retreated to the back porch to watch the kids playing in the fields. He was going to have to arrange for that baseball game he’d mentioned to Sandra.
“You’ve got that look on your face again.” Owen came to stand beside his brother at the railing.
Having Sandra on his mind so much had thrown Paxton. So many things were dancing around in his head. “How did you know that Connie was the one?”
Owen blinked. “The one? One what?”
“You know.”
“No. I don’t.” A buckle formed between Owen’s brows. “Wait. You mean as in the only woman for me?”
Paxton couldn’t bring himself to say yes, he merely kept his gaze on the horizon and shrugged.
His brother chuckled softly, then slapped his brother on the shoulder. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing. Just thinking.” He wasn’t ready to share everything with his brother yet.
“Thinking.” Owen sighed and leaned over the railing, the toe of his boot resting on the bottom of the railing.
“There was something about her that drew me to her and I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life without her.” Owen shrugged. “Even if she was annoying as all heck when it came to design ideas.”
Connie walked onto the porch and up to her husband. “What has you two looking so serious?”
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Owen shot back without skipping a beat.
“Comedians.” She rolled her eyes at her husband.
“Sorry, couldn’t resist. Just telling my brother about how I fell head over boot heels in love from the moment I saw you.”
“Aww,” Connie cooed, leaned in for a quick kiss, and then chuckled. “Maybe it was the second moment.”
As much as Paxton had been happy for all his brothers who had found their someone special, for the first time he actually envied their easy relationship.
Leaning back, Connie smiled at her husband. “The coffee is brewing. Do you want a cup?”
“Sure.” Owen nodded, his gaze fixed on his wife, his eyes twinkling with sheer happiness.
Connie spun around. “Paxton, would you like a cup?”
“No thanks.”
As Owen’s wife made her way into the kitchen, Adam got up from the rocker a few feet away and stood at Paxton’s other side. “Couldn’t help overhearing. You thinking about settling down?”
“I didn’t say that. Was just curious how you all knew that your spouse was the one?”
“Just curious, huh?” Adam chuckled. “When I first saw Meg, I thought she was an angel.”
“That’s right.” Paxton snapped his fingers. “She was broken down on the side of the road in her wedding dress.”
“And feisty as hell.” That brought a smile to Adam’s face. The same sappy smile all his brothers wore, and yet Adam had been married for a lot more years.
“That’s when you knew?” Paxton really wanted to understand.
“Not that day, but she sure stuck in my mind. Like all the time, finally it struck me that I didn’t want to live without her at my side. When I couldn’t imagine going through the day to day without seeing Meg, I knew.”
Paxton mulled that over. He certainly was spending more time than was reasonable thinking of Sandra, and even David. He did know one thing, he loved getting to see Sandra Lynn every day, and the thought of losing that when the build ended gave him an unpleasant kick in the gut.
Apparently, he must have a sign over his head flashing confused man, because Dale, his cousin Hannah’s husband, joined in the conversation. “What’s got everyone smiling like fools?”
Paxton tore his gaze away from the horizon and looked at his brother and cousin. The two men really were grinning like the fool on the hill. His mind kicked over to Sandra Lynn twirling in the yard over a peach tree, and the corners of his mouth tipped up in a hard smile.
“See? Now you’re doing it.” Dale settled along the rail beside Paxton. “What are we talking about?”
“Women,” Adam answered at the same time that Owen muttered, “Wives.”
“Ah.” He looked to Paxton. “You thinking of getting hitched?”
Shaking his head vehemently, he waved his hand for emphasis. “No. Just… thinking.”
“Mm.” Dale stared off into the distance. “First time I spotted Hannah, I spooked her horse with my motorcycle. Once I saw the fire in her eyes, there was no getting her out of my mind.”
Again with the constantly on their mind thing. He resisted the urge to sigh. Paxton glanced over his shoulder as more of the couples were gathering on the porch. The family sure seemed to have an awful lot of happy couples. Then his gaze turned to the kids running around playing.
“Gotta get that energy out before bedtime.” Connor joined the group. He’d married a woman with a young daughter. Not that anyone watching his family would know she wasn’t his daughter. His cousin’s words had him thinking of David playing in the backyard with endless amounts of energy.
“Well.” Adam slapped Paxton on the back. “Just keep an eye out for a big gray dog and a woman, then you’ll know.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “I still remember when Gray knocked Grace over at Chase’s feed store. By then we were all believers.”
Paxton had heard the stories of the matchmaking dog, but by the time his brothers had moved here, Gray and his mate seemed to have settled down to ordinary ranch work. Then again, maybe a wise dog showing up to play matchmaker would make life easier. He chuckled softly to himself. Who was he kidding? He didn’t need a matchmaking dog to know that as much as he’d liked Sandra Lynn as a kid, as a man, he was way past smitten and on his way to falling—hard.
A small part of Sandra missed when her son was an adorable toddler, splashing around in the bathtub, giggling wildly over bath bubbles or bobbing rubber duckies. Another part of her was thrilled that he was old enough to play in the tub without her hovering over him. Worn out from working the shampoo station this morning and the construction site this afternoon, today was a day when she was more grateful for David’s growing independence. Tomorrow might be another story.
“You look awfully tired.” Her mother rinsed a dish and stuck it in the drying rack. “Maybe this construction work is too much for you?”
The same thought had crossed her mind, mostly when she’d reach for something and her back complained, or last week when she accidentally hammered her thumb instead of the nail, but if she asked to cut back on time, then she wouldn’t see as much of Paxton, and she really liked her time with Paxton. A whole lot. “No. It’s not too much.”
Throwing the dish towel over her shoulder, her mom turned off the running water. “Then if you’re not tired, why do you look so serious?”
“Just thinking, I guess.” She grabbed another rag and began drying the dishes.
Her mom spun back around and turned the water back on. “You know, everything will work out. It always does.”
“I know.”
Casting a sideways glance in Sandra’s direction, her mom sighed. “Doesn’t look that way. Tell me what it’s all about?”
She shrugged. “I suppose I thought by now my life would be different. A husband, siblings for David, my own house.”
“You are getting the house.”
That much was true, and she was so excited watching it come together. Neil even incorporated some of her ideas into the design so now there was a small linen closet for towels in each bathroom as well as a hall linen closet big enough for pillows and blankets. “I am happy about that, but I feel like time is running away from me.”
Her mother stopped rinsing and looked out the window at some unknown point. “I never thought I’d grow old without your father.” She turned around. “And don’t get me wrong, I miss him every day of the week, but I have a nice life now. It’s different than what I’d thought, but it’s a good life, and I’m happy.”
Feeling awful for not having been here for her parents, she wished she could do so many things differently. Moving to stand closer to her mom, she wrapped her in a hug. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Her mom kissed her cheek and turned back to the sink. “You’d better go check on your son before he shrivels into a prune.”
Bobbing her head, she gave her mom one more kiss on the cheek and turned on her heel toward the stairs.
“And one piece of advice,” her mom called out to her. “Don’t be afraid of change. You might be surprised at how happy you can be.”
Even though her mom didn’t come right out and mention Paxton, Sandra knew full well that was what the woman was referring to. Her parents had been high school sweethearts. If her father had said it once, he’d told her a hundred times that friendship was the strongest foundation for a happy life and marriage. She had to wonder if she and Ed had ever been friends or if she was simply so desperate to escape small-town life that she fell for the first guy who promised to whisk her away. Not that it mattered. Ed was her past, now she had to figure out her future.
David was still in the bathtub playing, happily unconcerned that his fingertips had shriveled like raisins. Deciding that a few more minutes of playtime wouldn’t hurt anyone, she sat on the floor, just enjoying watching him play. When she next glanced at her watch, several minutes had passed. “Okay, David. Time to get out.”
To her surprise, he didn’t ask for more time, he climbed out and stepped into the towel she held for him. Once he’d dried off, put on his pajamas and climbed into bed, he handed her his favorite story to read. “Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Do you like Paxton?”
“Of course I like Paxton.”
“I like him too.”
That actually made her smile. “He’s a nice man.”
“He plays catch with me, and I really like how he reads bedtime stories. Even more than when you read.”
“Oh, really.” She tickled his tummy, delighted when he giggled at her.
“If you really like him then he’ll keep coming around.”
“Whether or not I like him has little to do with what Paxton does. He’s a busy man.”
His smile slipping, David nodded. “I guess.”
“But as long as we’re building our new house, I’m sure we’ll see plenty of Paxton.”
“Can I go work on the house too? I know how to use a hammer. Paxton taught me.”
“Oh, sweetie, construction sites aren’t safe for children. Even I have to wear a hard hat. But I’m sure one day soon, when the crew isn’t there, we can go look. How does that sound?”
“Is tomorrow too soon?”
That made her laugh. Kid’s sense of time was pretty pitiful, but in this case, she couldn’t blame her son for his curiosity. “Maybe not tomorrow, but I’ll talk to Paxton and see what we can do.”
“Thanks. He’s nice, he’ll say yes.”
“Good night.” Placing the sweetest of kisses on his cheek, she wondered how much longer she’d get away with that, and then she thought about what her son had said. Was it wrong of her to want Paxton to keep coming around as well?