Her Dakota Man (Book 1 - Dakota Hearts) (5 page)

Keith giggled and pointed to her.

“Did I miss something?” she asked.

“Your face is all dirty,” he said, still laughing.

Ethan bent down, took a napkin from the table and dabbed it in his cup of water. “I’m surprised my idiot brother didn’t tell you about the mud streak along the side of your face.”

“What?” she gasped, taking the wet napkin and scrubbing it against her skin. She looked at Logan and saw how he was fighting to keep from smiling. “Thanks a lot! I’ve been all around that gymnasium talking to people. Why didn’t you say something?”

“You said you were hungry and would clean up later,” he gave her an impish grin that made her knees turn to butter.

“And I’m supposed to be thankful for your consideration?” She threw the napkin at him and he moved to keep it from hitting his face. It bounced off his shoulder and then landed on the table.

“Please tell me you at least saved me a plate of food.”

“Mom has it warming in the kitchen,” Logan said.

“I’ll get it for you Auntie Poppy!”

Keith was quick to jump down from the bench in his excitement.

“We’ll both get it, little man. I have to tell Grammie I’m heading out again.” Ethan turned to Poppy and gave her a quick peck of a kiss on her newly cleaned cheek. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“I won’t.”

She sat in the seat next to Logan and propped her elbows on the table.

“Tired?” he asked.

“Yeah. But I’ll bet your mom is a thousand times more tired than me. She had to have been cooking all day.”

“She was. But she’s taking the morning off. Skylar is taking care of everything at the restaurant so she’ll be able to sleep in. Not that my mother ever does. But you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Did you get to visit with everyone?”

“Some. I can’t believe Dan and Sherry Boden’s house lifted right off the foundation and floated down the river!”

Logan grimaced, worry and fatigue both pulling at his handsome features. “Yeah, thank God they made it out of the house and to higher ground before that happened.”

“Were you home when the water came in?”

“Me and Keith were in the bedroom upstairs. I tried to keep him distracted and away from the window. I kept checking outside but it was too hard to see in the rain and then in the dark. I’d kicked myself a thousand times that night that I didn’t leave earlier and bring Keith over to Mom’s for the night.”

“These floods happen so fast. I mean, I don’t ever remember it being as bad as it is this year. But once when I was small I remember my parents getting real nervous about the rains and my dad saying he had the boat ready just in case the water came.”

Ethan and Keith appeared at the doorway to the kitchen. Ethan was crouched over, steadying Keith’s hand with a plate. It looked like he was giving him serious instruction that Keith was paying very close attention to. When he straightened up, he watched Keith walk over to the table slowly with a smile of pride.

“Dinner has arrived,” Logan said, beaming with the same pride Ethan had and Poppy felt deep in her chest.

Ethan gave a quick wave when Keith made it half way to the table and then turned toward the door, propping his police cap on his head.

“Is this for me?” Poppy said when Keith made it to the table. She took the plate and Keith’s face instantly showed relief that he hadn’t spilled anything.

“It’s for you, Auntie Poppy.”

“Thank you so much. Oh, it looks so good.”

“Grammie said you have to eat all of it because you’re too skinny.”

“Too skinny!” Poppy said. “My pants are going to burst if I eat all this food. Look at this plate!”

“And she said Dad can’t steal any of the food from your plate, too.”

“Did she,” Logan said, laughing and showing that deep dimple on his cheek. “Then I guess I won’t be having seconds.”

It felt incredibly good to laugh with Logan after all this time. As she took a fork full of food and savored the taste of it in her mouth, she was transformed back to a time when anger wasn’t part of their relationship. When lies hadn’t stood between them.

* * *

“Is he asleep?” Logan asked, taking a quick glance off the road to look at Keith, who was in his booster seat, sleeping with his face pressed up against Poppy’s arm.

She glanced down at Keith and smiled. “Out like a light. Good luck giving him a bath.”

“It’ll probably rouse him enough to be awake the whole night.”

“Then skip it.”

“What? Skip a bath?”

“Sure. Just put him to bed in his clothes. He can always have a bath in the morning.”

“Did you see how hard he played in the mud today?”

“Yeah, I noticed. I was right in the thick of it with him, remember? No one was rushing to get me to wash my dirty face. What’s it going to hurt? So his sheets get a little soiled. We’ll wash them in the morning, too. This way he’ll sleep.”

Logan shrugged. “I guess it can’t hurt to wait for a bath in the morning.”

“But not for me,” she said with a quiet chuckle. “There is no way I can sleep with all this mud on me. And just for the record, you’re none too clean yourself right now.”

“Then it’s settled. You can have the bathroom first while I put Keith to bed.”

Logan parked the truck and then carefully unbuckled Keith from his booster seat. Keith woke up enough to wrap his arms around Logan as he carried him up the stairs to his bedroom. Poppy watched it with awe. Logan was a good father. She’d always known he would be, but this was a different Logan than the man she’d always known. And she liked it a lot.

Fifteen minutes later, Poppy stood just outside Keith’s bedroom door listening to father and son chatter on about their day as she towel-dried her hair.

“Alex has a new video game,” Keith said. “It’s really cool. Can we get one?”

“Why not get a different one that Alex doesn’t have. That way the video game will be special when you play it over his house and your video game will be special to him when he comes to visit.”

Silence. Poppy could almost picture Keith pursing his little lips, thinking about the prospect. His next words caught her off guard.

“Is Auntie Poppy going to play with me again tomorrow?”

“Uh…Auntie Poppy?” Logan seemed to stumble on his answer. “I…don’t really know if she’s going to be here tomorrow, Keith. You know, she lives far away and may have to go home.”

All the joy of the being at dinner with Logan and Keith faded in that one statement. He was already ready for her to leave.

“She’s funny,” Keith said in a small giggle that hinted of the smile she imagined he’d have on his face. They’d had fun today and she was glad she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“Yes, I suppose she is,” Logan said quietly.

“She laughs a lot,” Keith continued. “It makes me laugh.”

“Don't I make you laugh?” Logan asked.

“You never play pirates.”

The silence that dragged on was probably only just a few seconds, but it still hit Poppy right in the chest. She knew Logan well, despite distance and time between them. Those four little words probably hurt Logan more than he’d ever admit. She recalled how hard it was for her dad to stop working and play with them when she was a kid. Ranching was hard work and long hours.

She was genuinely surprised when Kelly told her that they’d purchased the spread. Logan had had other dreams of wanting to travel like his brother Wade had done in the Peace Corp before he’d gone missing in a tsunami in Asia a few years ago. Perhaps losing Wade had been the catalyst for Logan deciding to settle permanently in Rudolph. There was no day off here on the ranch. Kelly had told her that plenty of times when she’d come out to visit Poppy in New York, alone, that Logan worked from sun up to sun down.

Stepping into the room, she greeted father and son with a smile, hoping her presence wasn’t as intrusive as it felt to her.

“Well, maybe we should ask Daddy to play pirates with us tomorrow. What do you think?” she said, standing on the other side of the bed from where Logan was sitting.

Logan offered up a weak smile, confirming exactly what she’d suspected. He probably had little extra time to play when there was so much to do.

“That’d be fun,” he said, eyeing her with skepticism.

Keith’s blue eyes grew large and expressive, showing enthusiasm at the prospect.

“Daddy you can be the captain and I’ll capture your ship. Arg!”

Logan mimicked Keith and then said, “Why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll talk about it at breakfast tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He reached his arms up to his father for a hug and said, “Love you, Daddy.”

“Love you, too, little man.”

Then Keith turned to Poppy and to her surprise, he lifted his arms to her. With tired eyes and a sweet smile, he said, “Love you, Auntie Poppy.”

She eased down on the bed next to Keith and wrapped him in her arms. “I love you, too, sweetie.” Keith put his head down on the pillow and Poppy reached up and pushed his silky hair away from his face. She felt more than saw Logan staring at her and decided to leave the two alone for the final nightly ritual.

As she made her way to the door, Logan said, “Goodnight.”

She turned back. “I’ll just be a few more minutes in the bathroom and then it’s yours.”

Logan nodded.

Poppy had to catch her breath as she walked those few steps toward the bathroom. She’d thought Logan was in her past. Kelly had insisted otherwise. Now Poppy wasn’t sure if she’d ever stopped loving him.

The realization hit Poppy hard in the chest as moisture filled her tired eyes. She couldn’t wait any longer to tell Logan the truth. But she’d have to find the right time, a time when Keith was at Kate’s or on a play-date with Alex. The longer she waited to tell him, the harder it was going to be to leave if it all went bad.

* * *

Logan turned off the light next to Keith’s bed and sat in the dark watching his son until he fell into a deep sleep. He knew it wouldn’t take long. It had been a long day. Playing hard in the fresh air was all the drug a little boy needed to fall into deep slumber. It gave him a moment to get his bearings.

No bath. It was such a small thing. But Kelly never would have done it. Slow, steady and predictable. That was Kelly. Logan could almost hear her yelling at him about more sheets to wash and dirty feet on the floor.

Easing himself up off the bed so as not to disturb Keith, Logan brushed his hand over his tired eyes. Already things were changing and Poppy had only been here one day. He thought about the hug his son so willingly offered Poppy. His boy missed having a mother. Try as he may, he couldn’t be both. He wasn’t starved for maternal love. Kate McKinnon gave her grandson love in spades, no matter how busy she was at the restaurant. But it was different and he hadn’t really seen what Keith was missing until his son gravitated so strongly to Poppy that afternoon.

It was clear that Poppy not only had a hold on him, but on his son as well.

When he closed the door to Keith’s room, he was surprised to see Poppy standing in the hallway as if she’d been waiting for him.

“That didn’t take long,” she said.

“He’ll probably sleep until…”

“Six?”

Logan chuckled. “Probably not much longer than that.” He paused a moment, weighing his words while he took in the beauty of her smile and the sparkle of light in her eyes under the overhead hallway lamp. He’d pushed them from his mind a long time ago but now that she was standing in front of him, it was hard to keep those memories at bay. Or the way his body had always reacted to her. Was still reacting…

“Thank you for today,” Logan said. “We got a lot further than I thought I…that I know I would have gotten alone. Especially with Keith running around.”

“He’s a great little boy.”

Logan cleared his throat and averted his gaze for just a moment before looking at Poppy again. “You’re probably heading home tomorrow?”

Her smile faltered. “I don’t know. I have no definite plans.”

Logan looked at her and let out a slow breath. “I don’t want you to take this wrong. I really do appreciate everything you did today.”

“But you don’t want me here.”

Direct and to the point. That had always been Poppy’s way. When she’d left for New York, she’d told him directly. She didn’t wait for him to find out any other way.

“It’s been tough on Keith since Kelly died. Routine is very important for him and I don’t think…”

“Don’t stop there. What?”

“I don’t want him to be confused.”

She nodded stiffly. “One night not taking a bedtime bath too much for him?”

“Kelly had everything—”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to tell me about Kelly. I knew what she was like. She was as regular as the day was long. She knew from the moment she woke up in the morning exactly what she was going to do for the day and she did it. That was just Kelly. She was happy that way.”