Chapter Twelve
IT WASN’T EASY TO MANEUVER the fork in his left hand, but Laredo managed, though it chaffed to let Diana cut his steak. While he grilled the said steaks, Diana and Marina made a breakthrough in the investigation.
His spirits and hopes lifted as he stole a look at Diana across the dining table. She was adorably shy and much quieter than their companions—especially compared to Saylor. Yet, an undeniable charm surrounded her, and she fit in well as if she’d always belonged here. She’d fit in well in his heart too, but he couldn’t allow himself to think about it.
“In case anyone wondered, the garden salad is from Mom’s restaurant. I didn’t make it.” Marina helped herself to the said salad while her husband in his scarlet bandanna piled more food on her plate.
Saylor giggled. “Sis, I know you mentioned it, not because you didn’t want to take credit, but because you wanted us to know it was safe to eat, right?”
“That’s correct.” Nonplussed, Marina lifted her iced tea glass. “No need to thank me for thinking about everyone’s safety. Now, let’s get back to our search. I called Noah, and he admitted to traveling to Port Sunshine and meeting with Pat. However, he insists they both made it back safely. Airline tickets confirm his claim, and I found a taxi driver who drove Pat from the airport to her place. However, after that, the trace goes cold.” She grimaced.
“You did what you could. I truly appreciate your help.” Diana poked at her steak, then edged it aside. Did she prefer them medium rare instead of the medium done? “Did he say who the people in the photos were and why he and Pat were looking for them?” Her expression was pained as she stabbed her salad fiercely.
Did she... did she suspect something? But what? And why hadn’t she shared it with Marina? That pain in her eyes made his rib cage seemingly constrict.
“No.” Marina cut her steak with precision. “He refuses to answer that, though I do have some theories. I’ll find out what he’s hiding.”
Kai sent his wife an admiring gaze. “I don’t have a single doubt.”
“Thank you for all your help.” Diana scooped a forkful of potato salad. Finally, she’d put something on her fork! But she kept her head down and didn’t lift her fork. “It might be best if I talk to him, though. And best if it’s done in person. I know his father. It’s not a close connection. But a connection nonetheless.”
Laredo’s heart dropped at the same time his fork dropped. The latter clattered against the plate. Was she leaving already?
As everyone looked at him, he drew a deep breath. “Would... would it be okay if I went with you?” His tongue stumbled. Heat rose up his neck. Had he just invited himself to go along with her? “I meant... I meant for protection purposes.”
“I don’t want to impose.” She paused, making his heart pause, as well. “But that... that would be wonderful.” She raised her glance, and their eyes met. Gratitude glossed her dewy gray eyes, but he hoped there was something more than that.
Warmth spread through him when her lips curved.
“No imposition at all. And I’m on a forced vacation at the ranch anyway.” He pointed at his sling. “I’ll be happy to join you.”
“Thank you very much.” Her smile widened, making his heartbeat stutter.
But traveling with her, and he’d go to the other side of the earth with her, not just to Texas—purely for protection purposes!—was postponing the inevitable. Yet that tiny smile and the promise of more time in her company gave his heart a jolt.
His sister-in-law Rachel pushed back her blonde braid. The light hair was a sharp contrast to her black sweater. “You’ll need a professional to go with you. I can move my assignments around. No offense, Laredo, but you can’t shoot well with your left hand.”
Not offended in the least, he nodded. His brothers married spectacular women, and he was proud of them. “Frankly, even if I could shoot with my right hand, you’d still do it much better than I could.”
As usual, Rachel’s husband, Laredo’s CEO brother, was the only one dressed in a starched-white shirt at the table. “Then I’ll go, too. Unlike my gorgeous wife, I’m not much use when it comes to shooting or hand-to-hand combat.” Tex brought Rachel’s hand to his lips, which in turn brought some pink color to her face. “So I’ll just call it a mini vacation.”
Kai chuckled. “Since you got married, you’ve taken more vacations than in the entire rest of your life. I wonder why.” Kai was always their family jokester, the total opposite of his serious wife.
Tex, who’d been a workaholic and overachiever before he’d met Rachel, gazed at his wife, his smitten expression almost comical. “Well, can you blame me?”
Kai laughed as he looked at his own wife. “No, we can’t. But as much as I love pets, especially my parrot, maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to take your five mice on this trip.”
“Five mice?” Diana squeaked and paled. “You... you have five mice?”
Laredo was about to intervene and say something to calm her. Surely, Rachel and Tex wouldn’t take their mice with them, right? Laredo could only imagine the commotion on the plane if those adorable creatures escaped. While he and Rachel found them adorable, for some reason not all people did.
But Tex already lifted his fork in Kai’s direction. “Don’t you scare our guest here.” Then he turned to Diana. “Let me explain. I adopted a dog—or, well, maybe he adopted me—and then Rachel kindly allowed us both into her life. And she had five mice—Button, Nibbles, Sneaky, Squeaky and Big Cheese. I was happy to adopt them all and thankful they adopted me, too.” He preened. “They even recognize my voice now. Some climb on my shoulder, and our family watches TV together. It’s fun when they tickle you with their whiskers.”
Another thing Laredo didn’t expect was his strict and professional brother singing odes to mice.
Then Tex sobered up. “Don’t worry. We’ll leave them at home.” He wiggled a finger in Kai’s direction. “And guess who’ll be taking care of them while we’re gone?”
Normally, their veterinarian brother would gladly volunteer to take in pets, but he was currently in New York with his CEO wife and father-in-law for a business trip and a chess bout. Taken by a private jet, no less.
Kai rolled his eyes as he refilled his wife’s glass from the carafe. “No need to voluntell me. I’d have done it, anyway. And I promise I won’t let my parrot scare them.”
Saylor blew out air. “I’m just glad it’s not going to be me. No offense, Rachel. I know how much you love your pets.”
Marina picked up more salad and elbowed her husband. “Darling, just make sure you don’t bring them home, please. And probably shower after getting home. Or our, um, parrot might smell a rat on you.”
“A mouse, honey.” Kai brushed his wife’s face with the back of his hand. “Or rather, five of them.”
Marina seemed to melt at his touch, but still, she scrunched her nose. “Fine. A rodent.”
Kai just laughed and kissed her hand.
Laredo had never envied his brothers, but at that moment, he wanted what they had. Before, he didn’t know the person he wanted it with. His gaze slid to Diana again. Now, he knew.
Harris, Laredo’s younger brother, thudded his glass on the table, drawing attention to himself. “I’ll go with you, too.” He coughed a little. “Purely for protection purposes.”
Kai chuckled. “Oh, absolutely!”
Tex patted Harris on the back. “Purely!”
Marina did something on her phone. “Okay, I booked all of you tickets for tomorrow afternoon.”
Diana blinked. “I’ll send you funds. How much was it?”
Marina waved her off. “Don’t worry about it.”
Family dinners at his mother’s place were always loud, cheerful, noisy affairs. Laredo glanced Diana’s way again, hoping she wasn’t overwhelmed. But with eyes wide, she looked more... mesmerized, and something almost wistful clouded those gray orbs.
He forced himself to tear his gaze away from the object of his affection. His brothers had already roasted him about it as soon as they’d shown up today. He’d been grilled more than the steaks on their plates. The tempting aroma of charbroiled meat tickled his nostrils again, and he helped himself to a bite of the fruit of his labor. Ah, nice and juicy.
That said, he was grateful to his family for embracing Diana, though he hadn’t expected anything else. She still seemed shy around his brothers but a bit more comfortable among the Hibiscus Club members. He’d have to thank the women later. Once again, he hadn’t expected anything else, but it was kind of them to offer Diana the palm of friendship—or was it the hibiscus of friendship in this case?
He’d do whatever he could to give her care, attention, and—oh just give her the world. But what she needed was to find her friend. He squeezed his teeth and sent up another prayer to find Pat safe and sound.
Diana’s glass was getting empty, so he gestured to the carafe. “Would you like more tea?”
“Yes, please.” She nodded.
He picked up the carafe with his left hand, but he clasped it at an awkward angle. He cringed as it nearly slipped, but he caught it in time. Left hand or not, he should be better at this by now. He could’ve flooded everyone’s food and then some with his efforts. He couldn’t wait until he could use his right hand again. He refilled her glass, placed the carafe back, then asked Diana, “Would you like more salad?”
“No, I’m good.”
Well, the quantity of the garden salad still on Diana’s plate should’ve been his first clue. Or maybe she was just afraid he’d spread the salad all over the place. How long would it be before his shoulder healed? He took pride in being capable.
Or was there a lesson in humility here?
Maybe God was showing him it was okay to accept help, and he shouldn’t rely on his strength, but God’s. And the people God sent him. Including Diana.
All the things on the ranch he could show off with, like lassoing a horse or galloping or simply picking up a feed sack, he couldn’t do. But maybe this was a lesson that Diana wouldn’t be impressed with such things anyway. God willing, she could see more than his surface bravado.
His heart constricted. Tonight was his night to sing at the restaurant, and his stomach knotted.
Meanwhile, his brothers didn’t let go. Teasing ran in his family, and he hoped it wasn’t too much for Diana, who must be used to much more silence.
Kai refilled his wife’s iced tea glass and rubbed it in to Harris. “So the reason wouldn’t be the fact that you couldn’t stop staring at Pat while she was here?”
Harris turned beet-root red. “I wasn’t staring!”
“Really?” Even Darius joined in, and he was usually silent and sometimes even brooding at the family dinners. Well, before he’d met Saylor. “I remember those puppy eyes every time she walked into the room.”
Diana’s fork stilled, and her eyes widened as if things fell into place. “Do you think Pat might’ve reciprocated your feelings?”
Harris groaned as he clanked his fork onto his plate. “There were no feelings to reciprocate! I mean, I do have feelings. Everyone does. But not those kinds of feelings. Or not exactly. Anyway, it just makes sense for me to go as I’m one of the few remaining unattached people in this family.”
Grinning, Kai waved in Laredo’s direction. “Well, something tells me one of the remaining unattached people won’t remain unattached for long.” Then he slanted a knowing glance at Diana.
Laredo wasn’t a child anymore, so he couldn’t throw something at his jokester brother. Not that throwing things at each other had been encouraged when they’d been children.
Diana froze like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. Something flashed in her eyes.
His heart dropped again. Did the idea of being, well, attached to him scare her that much? Was he wrong about the attraction he’d thought simmered between them?
The memory of their near kiss remained etched in his mind, but if his affection wasn’t welcome, he’d have to rein in his feelings. Maybe Harris didn’t have those kinds of feelings for Diana’s disappeared friend, but Laredo was well on the way to having them for Diana, probably was already there.
He sent his brother a silencing look, and Marina elbowed her husband in the ribs.
Kai raised his arms in a mocking surrender. “My apologies if I went too far.”
Diana’s reaction soured the steak in Laredo’s stomach.
Lord, what am I supposed to do here? I want to help her, but I don’t want to have my heart broken a second time.
Had God placed them in each other’s path so they could help each other heal, him physically and her emotionally? But nothing else?
While in his childhood he had learned God’s ways weren’t his ways, he hoped and prayed with his whole heart God also had a reason to ensure he and Diana met. And maybe, somehow, despite all odds, they’d have a chance to be together when she was ready.
Or was he kidding himself?
Not all his prayers were answered. Sometimes newborn farm animals he’d taken to heart and had prayed for died. His father had never turned into the loving and caring man Laredo prayed he would become. His insides went cold, and his fingers tightened around the fork. He forced himself to take another bite. But the meat, so juicy and delicious minutes ago, now felt and tasted like rubber. There was another thing he’d prayed for every night.
That he’d heard things wrong that fateful night decades ago, three days before his father’s suicide. After all, the whispers had been barely audible, and he didn’t want to believe the words.
He needs to die before he puts our mother into an early grave. And before he beats one of us to death.
Over many years, he’d persuaded himself one of his favorite brothers hadn’t acted on those words. Had prayed to be wrong. But was that prayer answered or not? And if not, did he even want to know?
Then Marina’s expression turned grim, and she plunged her fork into her steak with more force than necessary. “Maybe I should go, as well. I had to take on a new case as a PI that the client told me was an emergency. But I can ask if it’s possible to postpone it.”
Kai sent his wife a worried gaze and opened his mouth, clearly ready to volunteer, as well.
Based on Diana’s neck movement, she swallowed hard. “Thank you, but—”
Laredo squared his shoulders. “We’ll be fine. I believe we have enough people. We’ll keep Diana safe.”
God, please let me be able to keep that promise .