Chapter 5
He was supposed to be asleep on the couch, when the knock came. But Cal had been lying there, listening to the sounds of the woman in the home office on the other side of the wall. Sometimes she came out, got something from the kitchen. Checked on her gaggle of she-devil-kids.
He was lying there on the couch, imagining her luring him into her office, where they’d take advantage of whatever flat surface she had in there. He was trying to be a gentleman where his unwilling rescuer was concerned, but now that he’d had those images in his head—Cal just couldn’t get them out.
It had to be the knock on the head making him find little Auggie Tyler fascinating now. There was no other explanation. Why else would he find himself sweating on her couch—after a dream he had no business having about his younger sisters’ closest friend?
Cal would not torture himself that way again. He stayed where he was and watched her in the dim light from the kitchen stove, keeping himself still and silent.
The knock came again. He tensed, waited. No one should be out tonight, not in the storm and ice.
She answered the door quickly, the baby in her arms. That kid just did not sleep.
No denying that. Auggie was whispering to her late-night visitor now.
He turned his head and peeked, wanting to see if it was a man.
The real reason she didn’t want a husband.
Maybe she was dating someone and hiding it from the kids?
He could see that being possible.
The woman was damned near fascinating, after all. Men would want her. Deeply.
“Quick, get her inside. It’s pouring and freezing out there.”
“No kidding,” another female voice whispered.
“And we had to stop three times along the drive so she could toss the cookies. I was slipping everywhere. We probably shouldn’t have tried to make it back tonight, but she wanted Love-Stud.
She was feeling a bit weepy. We almost made it all the way around, and then it got to be too freaky out there. So here we are.”
Auggie stepped back. Two women came in. Including his own younger sister.
The other woman was recognizable in the light—her friend, the sheriff’s deputy, married to Auggie’s asshole cousin Gil.
What in the hell was Claudia doing out this late?
In this weather? Yes, she was a cop—but that didn’t mean he wanted her out at three a.m. in a freezing rainstorm.
Hell, his three sisters needed keepers, lately.
They were just always getting into so much trouble.
“Pitiful. So, so pitiful. Guys on drugs, burning buildings, bullets and knife-wielding homicidal maniacs can’t stop SuperSage, but…”
“Oh, just stop,” the sheriff’s deputy said. She sounded beyond pitiful.
“Gil Tyler’s sperm sure did. Stopped her right in her tracks,” Claudia said. “Thanks for the loan of the couch tonight. It’s appreciated.”
“Anytime. She can have the bed in my office. I think she deserves it.”
“I called Gil for her already. Let him know we only made it halfway but are safe. He was starting to panic and was getting ready to come looking for her.”
“He has it so bad. It’s sweet.”
Cal stayed still, while they got the deputy installed in Auggie’s guest room. Then Auggie and his sister headed toward the kitchen, whispering quietly, comfortably together. It was obvious Claudia had spent a lot of time here at the demon-woman ranch.
“So…spill. You’re bottling something up right now. Time to tell me what it is. Everything,” Auggie said. “What’s going on?”
Cal’s attention sharpened. Sometimes, his sisters didn’t keep him or Cadell in the loop the way he wished they would. How could he protect them, if he didn’t know what they were coming up against?
They’d almost lost Claudia twice in October. Because of Auggie’s bastard of a father. He didn’t take that lightly. Both of these women had been through real hell lately. No denying that.
“I had a date Friday.”
“I remember.”
Well, Cal hadn’t known that. From her tone, that was probably a good thing.
“Well, everything was going great, until he asked about my father…”
“Ouch.”
Cal had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what his sister said next. Who the hell was the bastard she’d dated anyway? He needed to know, so he could do any face rearranging that was needed.
“I should have lied,” Claudia said, almost bitterly.
“But I told him my father was in prison for shooting two people and for arson. Figured I’d get it right out there ahead of time.
This guy was a defense attorney, Augs. You’d think he wouldn’t be so shocked, right?
He left me sitting there in the restaurant. I had to call Cloe to come get me.”
“Bastard. He’s not worth your time.”
“No kidding. And the same thing happened to Clancy two months ago. That guy she was living next to. He made it so uncomfortable for her, practically taunting her, blaming her for things around the complex she didn’t do—she ended up moving in with Cal to get away from him, and I told him we’d be getting a restraining order if he didn’t stop harassing her. ”
So that was what it was. He had known Clancy was having some sort of problem when she’d asked to move home, but she wouldn’t tell him what. And of course he had said yes. It was her home, too.
Besides, how else was he supposed to keep that one out of trouble? Clancy was worse than Claudia and Cloe combined, when it came to being a trouble magnet.
“I understand. Last time I had a date I wanted to get naked with, you know, before six kids and lifelong partial paralysis, the guy took one look at my scars on my back, asked how I got them—first time I had my shirt off with him, too—and couldn’t get away fast enough.
Like I was damaged goods, back then. Well, I have more scars now.
I’m not too anxious to repeat that experience. ”
Bastard hadn’t deserved her, then. Each of her scars—well, he suspected she’d triumphed over them. She deserved so much better than that.
Of course, so did his sisters. And hers. His mother had told him once that the scars a person faced were part of what made them who they were. As she’d been battling cancer for the third time. He had never forgotten.
Everyone had scars. Everyone.
“When do we stop paying for the sins of our fathers, Aug? I just don’t get it.” His sister sounded utterly heartbroken.
The baby fussed.
Cal practically flinched at the sound.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to make it where Em and Junie won’t ever again.
And neither will the rest of my girls. They won’t ever have to pay for him again.
No matter what I have to do.” There was such…
passion and emotion. But Cal understood—his own brother and sisters had paid because of their father so much. Hell, maybe so had Cal.
He was starting to understand that more now that some time had passed.
What their father had done had changed them all so much. Just like losing their mother had. Scars. They all had them now.
“Hand her over,” Claudia said, reaching for the baby. “And Aug, it’s not right that you will be paying for him forever, either. You deserve to have a life of your own, too.”
The echo of the dinner conversation wasn’t lost on him.
Claudia was right. But he couldn’t see any other solution. He had easily seen how much Auggie loved her younger sisters. And who else would have taken on six traumatized young girls? They’d have had to be split up. No one would have really wanted that.
Hell, he’d have done it, too. If he had been in her position.
And if Cloe and Claudia ever needed a roof over their heads, and a big brother to protect them from the monsters of the world—well, Cal would be there.
No matter what. Sisters took care of sisters here, well, in his world, he took care of his sisters.
His baby brother, too. Because he loved them. Period.
“I do have a life of my own. I can walk. Mostly. I have a great job that I love and it pays really well. And the boss is a man I’ve loved my entire life.
I have my home. And it’s in my name now.
No one can ever take it away. I’m going to live here forever.
I’m planning on it. I have six little girls I’m going to raise.
And they are beautiful, funny, sweet, smart, and wonderful.
They give me…meaning. I have two other sisters I adore, and I know exactly who my real friends are.
You and Cloe and Sage top that list, by the way.
I’m good, Claud. As good as I can be now. ”
“But don’t you get lonely?”
“I don’t know that I’ve even had the time to be lonely since I woke up in the hospital to learn I’d inherited six little girls I’d never even met.
I’m still trying to figure that out. I’ll worry about men when Mae-Mae there is in college or something.
I may be ready then. But who knows? I may find I like my life just as it is. I’m kind of set in my ways already.”
Claudia sighed. “I am not so sure I can say the same thing. I just wish I could go back in time and fix what Dad did, so it will stop hurting all of us now. Clancy won’t talk about that stupid guy, Cloe won’t even attempt to date, and I…
well…there were whispers at the WHP all the time that I was involved, too.
I still think that asshat Weatherby is digging into my old cases, too.
I just want…a chance to live my life on my own terms. Not because of what my father did. ”
Cal’s heart broke for his little sister then. All of them.
“I know exactly what you mean.”
“Okay, enough of the pity party,” Claudia said. That was her through and through—just keep going, Claudia. She tried to stubborn her way through everything and always had. “How did the girls do, having a man in the midst of them? Did Cal scare them?”
“A little, I think. But they seemed okay once they learned he was your brother. It’s Em who was the worst.”
“I am almost afraid to ask.”
“Let’s just say, if she had her way right now, we’d just keep your brother for breeding stock, and dispense with male-female relationships forever, altogether.”
“Still upset over that guy from Pinedale?”
“Very much so. Apparently, he was rather frightened by the idea of eight sisters. And as loyal as she is, she let him have it. His ears are probably still ringing.”
“She’s better off without him, then. But if you want to use my brother as breeding stock, go right ahead. I wouldn’t mind nieces and nephews sometime soon. Either of my brothers. Just take your pick.”
Cal almost said something in response, but he didn’t want to betray he’d been listening.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass on that offer. No offense.”
“None taken. He has his faults, after all. But I love him, and he’s one of the best men I know. Wouldn’t trade either of them for any other brothers out there. Not even for a moment. They are good men, both of them. So if you want one—you totally have my blessing.”
Well, at least there was that.
He stayed right where he was, while Auggie stood and took her sister back in her arms.
“I’ll grab you some blankets.”
“I’ll get them. You aren’t wearing your brace, Aug. You know better. Be careful.”
“I’m good. I’m determined to do those damned stairs without it on a regular basis by Christmas. What can I say? It’s the small things that matter.”
“I love you and your sisters, you know that?” Claudia said. “Without the three of you and Sage, I don’t know that I would have gotten through after what he did. It’s been rough. And…with what Dad did to Maggie…I wouldn’t have blamed you for...”
“I know. And right back at you. I wasn’t going to abandon my best friends because of the sins of their father, Claud.
Believe me, if we were all judged by our parents’ sins, I’d have no friends at all.
One thing about our fathers—they showed us who our real friends are.
That is one thing I won’t ever want to change. ”
“Me, either. Let’s get this monster back to bed. Then, I’m going to crash. It has been a long day.”
“No kidding.”
“And I still need to find out just why my brother was on this highway to begin with.”
Well, that was something Cal still hadn’t figured out yet, either.
But he was going to.