Her Texas Hero (4 page)

Keeping her own voice low, Audra explained, “It's not too big,”

“Then why does he keep pushing it up like that?” her son persisted.

“Because that's what cowboys do down here in Texas. It's how they show ladies respect.”

“Then I need one, too,” he said as he watched Logan leave with his order. “Just like his, so I can be a real cowboy.”

Audra couldn't help but smile as she added a cowboy hat to her lists of things they needed for their new life in Braxton. Because more than anything she wanted to make certain her children were happy here and felt like they fit in.

Chapter Three

L
ogan glanced up from the hole he was digging and smiled. “What brings you out here?”

“The need to work,” Carter answered honestly as he crossed the newly laid sod in front of Braxton's only bank, where his brother had been hired to do a complete external face-lift to the property. He'd spent most of the night tossing and turning, his thoughts filled with Audra Cooper and her two young children and that eyesore of a house they were going to be living in. Leaving them to handle things alone the afternoon before had really eaten at him. But what choice did he have? Audra had made it clear she didn't need his help. No, she definitely needed his help. It was that she didn't
want
his help. Even when it was freely offered.

“I would think you'd be enjoying your time off between jobs. Maybe doing a multiday hike up into the hills,” his brother said as he went back to digging a hole for the ornamental tree he had sitting next to the spot.

Carter frowned. If only he could be enjoying his day off. And while hiking was a favorite pastime for him whenever he had the time, he knew if he'd gone up into the hills, relaxation was the last thing he'd find there. He would have spent all his time worrying over Braxton's newest residents. “Do you need any help here or not?” he asked in a rare show of impatience.

Logan simply laughed. “If you're that fired up to work, you could lend me a hand with the mulching.”

“Fine,” Carter grumbled.

“There's a wheelbarrow full of mulch around back,” his brother told him. “You can start filling in around the trees and plants I've already put in.”

With a nod, Carter set off around the building, his mouth in a grim line. While he'd come there hoping to distract himself from thoughts of Audra Marshall and her kids the exact opposite was happening. Looking at the newly laid lawn made him think about the jungle of grass and weeds surrounding the old Harris place. Did she have a mower? And if she did, would it be powerful enough to get through the deep grass? And what about that overgrown hedgerow? Did she have the tools needed to bring that out-of-control shrubbery into some semblance of order?

Spying the wheelbarrow, which had been heaped high with a deep red mulch, he walked over to it and proceeded to wheel it back around to the front side of the bank, where his brother was hard at work.

After a good twenty minutes or so of tossing shovelfuls of mulch onto the designated garden area, Logan said, “Is your offer to help me out here today your way of getting back at me for the goggle prank?”

Carter stopped what he was doing to cast a questioning glance his brother's way. “Why would you think that?” Truth was, getting back at his brother was the furthest thing from his mind at that moment. His thoughts were far too preoccupied by one very stubborn female.

“Considering how much of that mulch is ending up on the sod I just laid the day before, I'd say it's a pretty good guess.”

His gaze dropped to the ground at his feet, where, sure enough, a growing pile of red mulch lay atop the bright green grass—a good foot away from the edge of the landscaped area he'd been helping Logan with.

With a groan, Carter set the shovel aside and knelt to clean up the mess he'd made, scooping the misplaced mulch up in his bare hands as not to damage the grass.

“You wanna tell me what's gnawing at you?” his brother asked as he settled onto his knees on the ground beside him.

“More like who,” Carter mumbled with a frown as he tossed a handful of mulch into the flower bed, where it belonged.

“Who?” Logan repeated. “Look, if you're still upset with Nathan about what happened, keep in mind that he was only partially responsible for the shoe polish on your goggles.”

“I'm not referring to Nathan,” he said. “I'm referring to a stubborn female who's jumped off into the deep end and is now struggling to tread water.”

“Afraid you've lost me there, big brother.”

Carter scooped more of the misplaced mulch into a pile. “There's this woman who needs my help but is determined not to take it.”

“Anyone I know?”

He shook his head. “No. She just moved to town.”

“She wouldn't happen to be a tiny thing with golden-brown hair, two very inquisitive children and the new owner of the old Harris place?”

Carter's head snapped up, his gaze locking with his brother's. “How do you know Audra?”

“We met in passing last night at Big Dog's,” Logan said, getting to his feet as the last of the mulch that could gather was removed from the grass. “Lizzie said you and Nathan were gonna be doing work out there.”

“Not sure where Lizzie got that idea,” he said with a frown as he stood. “Audra's determined to do most of the work on that place herself.”

“By herself? You mean her and her husband?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I mean only her. She's divorced.”

“I take it she has experience in home renovations then.”

“Not a lick.”

“So you're just gonna take no for an answer?” his brother challenged.

“I can't force her to allow me to help her.”

His brother stepped back into the garden, retrieving his discarded shovel. “Reckon you could always blame Momma.”

“Excuse me?”

His brother looked his way with a grin. “You and I both know Momma wouldn't be too pleased with us if we were to turn our backs on someone in need. And it sounds to me like Audra is clearly in need.”

Carter's mood lightened instantly. “Good point. Last thing I'd wanna do is let Momma down.

His brother's crooked grin lifted even more. “Exactly.”

* * *

“Uncle Carter!” Katie squealed as she raced out of the house to greet him.

Carter swept her up in his arms and spun her around like he'd done since she was a toddler. “Katydid,” he chuckled. It warmed his heart every time he saw her. It also reminded him of how fortunate he and his brothers were to still have her there with them. A true blessing in their lives.

“I'm getting dizzy,” she said with a giggle.

“No,” he said, lowering her carefully to her feet, “what you're getting is big. Sprouting up like a weed.”

She looked up at him. “I'm not a weed. Daddy says I'm a sunflower 'cause I'm getting so tall and I like tipping my face up to the sun.”

He reached down to playfully pinch her tiny cheek. “That explains where all these sun kisses came from.”

“Those aren't from the sun,” she told him. “They're from my mommy.”

A lump wedged in his throat at the mention of Isabel. His sister-in-law had been a wonderful, loving mother. She should be there raising her daughter alongside Nathan. His only comfort was in knowing that his sister-in-law was safe in the Lord's loving arms. No doubt keeping watch over his beautiful little niece.

“Looks like you forgot something in the house,” he said, his gaze zeroing in on her mouth.

“I did?” she replied.

He nodded. “Your teeth.”

Her tongue moved to the empty space where two of her bottom teeth used to be. “Oh, those,” she said. “I lost them.”

“You need help looking for them?” he teased.

“Not that kind of lost.” She giggled. “Daddy says I'm gonna start losing my teeth 'cause my big-girl teeth are getting ready to come in.”

“Where is your daddy?” he asked with a forced smile.

“Nana Mildred needed some wood, so Daddy drove around back to load some in his truck.”

Mildred Timmons had been his parents' neighbor for nearly forty years. Her husband had been the only other casualty from the tornado that struck Braxton, leaving behind a wide path of destruction that the town was still trying to recover from. Millie looked after Katie for his brother when Nathan was at work and had become a much-loved surrogate grandmother to his niece. It helped to ease Millie's loneliness and gave Katie some much-needed female presence in her life. Probably the only she would ever have seeing as how Nathan was dead set against ever marrying again.

“Reckon I'll take a walk around back, then,” he told her. “You want a piggyback ride?”

She shook her head, her dark curls bouncing about on her slender shoulders. “Daddy said I'm supposed to wait at the house until he's done chopping wood.”

“Then you best do what your daddy says,” he said. Nathan was overprotective of his little girl and understandably so. Losing Isabel had crushed his brother both spiritually and emotionally. If anything were to happen to Katie... Carter shook the thought away. “I'll be back in to see you before I go.”

“Okay, Uncle Carter,” she said with a smile. “See you in a bit.”

He waited until she'd gone back into the house before setting off in search of his brother. Nathan's property consisted of just under two acres of mowed backyard and side yard with a few scattered oaks that butted up against a large expanse of woods, which his brother also owned. In the backyard was a rather impressive wooden swing set/jungle gym his brother had built for Katie, a miniature castle playhouse and a large pole barn.

The sound of wood being stacked onto wood drew Carter's gaze toward the pole barn. He spotted his brother's truck, backed up to the towering pile of firewood Nathan had recently replenished with his and Logan's help. His brother was standing in the bed of the truck, stacking the split logs he'd loaded onto it.

Carter started across the yard in lengthened strides.

Nathan glanced up, a slow smile moving across his tanned face. “Almost didn't recognize you without your mask.”

“You're hilarious,” Carter muttered as he stepped up alongside the truck bed. “Took me nearly an hour to get the stuff off my face when I got home and only with the help of some solvent-based cleaner they recommended at the hardware store. Mind you, that was only
after
they had a good laugh at my expense, saying they were sure I was a masked robber when I first stepped into the store.”

His brother threw back his head, his husky laughter cutting into the silence of the nature surrounding them. “Thanks for sharing that little tidbit. That just made my day.”

“Logan's rubbing off on you,” Carter muttered. “And I don't mean in a good way.” Despite the semiscowl he'd plastered on his face, it was good to hear his brother's laughter. It had been a rare thing since losing Isabel, with the exception of when his brother was around Katie. His daughter always seemed to bring a smile to Nathan's face.

“So what brings you out here this evening?” his brother asked. “Come to get more revenge? Because I'll tell you, you had me sweating it when you had me thinking you'd put my keys in that bucket of primer.”

“Good. You deserved to sweat a little.”

“Hey, I wasn't the lone man in that prank.”

“Don't you worry. Logan's gonna get his,” Carter said. “I'm just biding my time.”

Nathan walked down to the end of the truck bed and settled himself down onto the open tailgate, dangling his long legs over the edge. “Meaning you haven't come up with something as good as the prank he had me pull on you?”

Carter grinned. “Exactly. Besides, I'd like to pay him back when he's least expecting it. As for why I'm here, I need a door. Do you still have the ones we salvaged from the Parker renovation we did last fall?”

His brother nodded. “In the pole barn. Why?”

“There's a lady in sore need of a halfway decent door. Figured I'd give her one of those since we don't really have any plans for them.”

Nathan quirked a dark brow. “You're doing a side job?”

He understood his brother's curiosity. They were partners and always worked as a team. Even on the small jobs. “I wouldn't exactly call it a job.” How did he explain it? That he met a woman, a pretty one at that, rescued her actually, and then offered his services, which she promptly turned down. Now he couldn't stop thinking about her, and wanted to do something to help her out?

“Are you gonna make me drag it out of you?” his brother muttered impatiently.

“She's new to Braxton,” he explained. “Just arrived yesterday, as a matter of fact.”

“So you're giving her a used door as a housewarming gift?”

“I'm giving her the door because she can't afford a new one,” Carter said with a frown. “Not with everything she has to do to the old Harris place.”

His brother threw up a hand. “Hold up. Did you just say the old Harris place?”

He nodded. “Bought it sight unseen from an online auction.”

The face Nathan made said it all. “I haven't been by that place for a nearly a year, but last time I was the old house was practically begging someone to bring in a wrecking ball and put it out of its misery and put something new up in its place.”

“That's the thing,” Carter said with a frown. “Audra has no intention of tearing the place down. She intends to live there.”

His brother's dark brow lifted even farther. “Audra?”

“With her children,” he added, so his brother wouldn't think this had anything to do with her being a prettier-than-most female.

“Grown-up children?” his brother persisted.

He shook his head. “I'd say they're closer to Katie in age. And before you ask, she's divorced. Her ex sounds like a real loser.”

“Are you passing judgment on someone you've never met? Not like you, little brother.”

“He chose to give up all rights to his children,” he said. “And they're pretty hurt by it.”

Nathan looked aghast. “Those poor kids. So where are they staying while the house is being renovated?”

“I believe they're gonna be staying in the house.”

His brother's blue eyes widened. “That's gonna make it a challenge for anyone she does bring in to help out with the bigger jobs.”