The Bull Rider's Twins (19 page)

Once they had Darla and Molly and Belle moved into the bunkhouse, Judah really did feel peace come over him. There were so many people coming and going all day long at Rancho Diablo that he knew his ladies were safe.

Which meant it was time to talk to Fiona. He caught her heading to the basement, her favorite haunt besides the kitchen. “Whoa, frail aunt, let me carry those for you.”

She sniffed and gave him the box of party lights she'd hung in June. “I'm not frail. You're frail.”

“In what way?”

“You're making your wife do all the heavy lifting.”

He stared at Fiona as they made their way down the stairs. “What lifting?”

“She's making all the sacrifices.”

It was true. “Not much I can do about that right now.”

“You could take her on a honeymoon. Let me keep the babies.”

He hesitated. “Uh, she's breast-feeding.”

“True, but trips aren't planned in a week, nephew. Good ones, at least. There are logistics involved. And I'll probably have to fight Mavis tooth and nail for baby time, so I want to get my request in first.”

She sniffed again, and Judah said, “Catching a cold, Aunt?”

“No. I'm merely allergic to bone idleness.”

“I suppose you have the name of a travel agency you prefer?” he asked with a sigh.

“I do. But I refuse to pick a destination. You'll have to ask Darla what she wants. I can't do everything for you.”

He smiled. “Thanks for thinking of it. I'd forgotten.”

“You've had a lot on your mind.” She showed him where to shove the box, and pointed to another she wanted.

“I thought you were going to have a monster garage sale and get rid of all this.”

“I might, if we ever have to move. But right now, Sam's doing a bang-up job. I'm only fifty percent worried these days. And Jonas has become quite the financial investor, something I was never aware of before. Guess he has to have something to do now that he's not cracking open people's chest cavities.”

Judah winced. “Aunt, speaking of cracking things open…”

“Oh, let's don't,” she said. “I hate to think of it. Only eggs should be cracked open.”

His gaze slid to the dirt patch that was unlike the rest of the basement floor. They'd asked Fiona about it when they were younger, and gotten some water-seeping-in, covered-over-mold story. The boys had told each other ghost stories about the dead body in the basement, but these days, Judah wondered if he could dismiss any tale about his fey aunt.

“What about safes? Safes get cracked open.”

“No,” she said dismissively, “not unless one is a thief, and we have none of—” Her gaze met his, and then slid to the floor where he'd been looking. “Now, nephew,” Fiona said. “Don't go odd on me just because you're lacking sleep due to your darling daughters. In fact, you should go—”

“Bode says I should ask you about who might have shot me,” Judah said quietly, and Fiona stared at him.

“Bode's a fool. Why would he say such a thing?”

“You tell me.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Whose side are you on, Judah?”

“Callahan side, ma'am,” he answered, “but why are there sides?”

She pursed her lips. “I always think of everything that's happened as Jenkins versus Callahan. That's all I meant.”

“Do you have a theory as to who shot me?” Judah was determined to know just how much Fiona was hiding.

“I have theories,” she said, “and they're about as good as any that are floating around. I've had people ask me if you accidentally let your own gun go off.”

“Why would I be carrying at a wedding?”

“See how much sense it makes to listen to gossip?” She moved to inspect her rows of pickled vegetables, breaking eye contact. “I've heard that it was Bode. That it was a hunter. That it was Sidney.” She shrugged. “We're probably never going to know, Judah.”

And yet he sensed she was holding back on him.

“And who else might it have been?”

She looked at him for a long time. “Put those boxes on the dining room table, please,” she said, and marched up the stairs, leaving him in the basement, knowing that something wasn't adding up.

“T
ONIGHT'S FAMILY COUNCIL
is necessary,” Fiona said, “because lately I've noticed a lack of faith among my nephews in the job I've been doing. Not that I blame you, because I alone got us in the mess we're in.”

The six brothers and Burke watched Aunt Fiona as she struggled for words six hours after Judah had tried to talk to her about Bode down in the basement. Of course, he'd known that Bode was intent on stirring up trouble. Yet it was his aunt's lack of heat in the denial that had sparked his curiosity.
Now she was calling a family council, and his curiosity was even greater. They had these meetings at least once a month to discuss family and ranch business, but this one had been called out of schedule.

Now they sat in the wood-paneled library. Burke passed out square cut-crystal glasses of fine whiskey, and Judah drank his gratefully.

“First, Burke and I want to tell you that we're married,” Fiona said, “just so you know that I'm walking the walk and talking the talk when I try to set you boys up for lifetimes of happiness with someone you love. I know you already know, have known for a while, but I'm making it official.”

The men applauded, congratulated Burke and Fiona, acted surprised, as if they hadn't figured it out years ago.

“Now I'm here to answer any questions you might have,” Fiona said, “and I know that, based on a discussion I had with Judah this morning, that you have some. Anything we can clear up, Burke and I are here for you. Always.”

The brothers glanced at one another. This was new, Judah thought. This new transparent Fiona was an unexpected metamorphosis.

And yet she'd specifically told him never to talk about the cave's existence. He wondered how far this transparency would go.

“All right, I'll bite,” Judah said. “Where are our parents buried?”

The room went deathly silent. Fiona's gaze leveled on him, seemingly dazed, and then, without any warning, she fainted.

“S
HE SCARED THE LIVING
daylights out of me,” Judah said as he lay in bed that night with Darla and their two angels. “I really thought I'd killed her.”

Darla giggled. “It's not funny, I know, but it kind of is. You
know Fiona is tough as cowhide. I don't think you can hurt her, Judah. Don't worry.”

He winced. “I do worry. She's not so much cowhide as she once was. I feel terrible about the whole thing.” His brothers had piled on, telling him that Fiona's offer had been more rhetorical and polite than anything, and was he trying to give her a stroke?

“Don't worry. Fiona knows you love her.” Darla gave a contented sigh. “I love living in this bunkhouse,” she said, and Judah's attention was totally caught.

“Are you being serious?”

She nodded. “Much more than I thought I would. It's really ideal for a growing family. There's so much storage space. And Mom and her friends came over today and set up the nursery just the way they had it at my house.” She smiled at Judah. “It's perfect.”

“I'm glad.” His tone was gruffer than he meant it to be, but so much emotion was flooding over him that it practically choked him. “Thanks for being okay with this, Darla. I feel better with us being here.”

“Yeah, Sam told me.” Darla closed her eyes, enjoying the peace. “He said that ever since you got shot, you've been a bit of a wienie.”

Judah sighed. “He's probably right.”

“And he said that this is your place. Your piece of the universe.” She rolled her head to look at him. “I didn't really have a piece of the universe. I loved my house, but it was just a house.”

You're my home,
he thought,
my whole life. My real universe.

“Want to honeymoon?” he asked, and Darla grinned at him.

“M
AYBE THE
B
AHAMAS
,” Darla told Jackie the next day when she came to see the new digs and bring a housewarming gift.
“Judah says I can probably find a white skirt and he'll wear a white shirt with palm trees on it, and we'll have vows said under some kind of coconut tree or something.” Darla smiled. “He's gone all romantic since we moved into the bunkhouse.”

“Rancho Diablo suits these men.” Jackie pulled out wedding dress vendor photos for two years out. “I figure we might as well start looking these over.”

“And I need to decide what to do with the magic wedding dress,” Darla said. “I suppose we should sell it. Sabrina says the magic has to keep moving.”

“Do you really believe all that stuff she talks about sometimes?”

“I don't know,” Darla said, “but I do know that I'm happier than I've ever been, and if a dress can bring a little luck, I'm all for sharing it. I'm a romantic at heart.”

“So am I.” Jackie looked at the photos and drawings. “You're still okay with the wedding dress shop, partner?”

“Why wouldn't I be?” Darla was surprised by the question.

“I thought Judah didn't want you to work.”

“Well, not while the babies are so tiny.” Darla stiffened. “I didn't mind changing houses, but I would never give up my shop for a man. Not Judah or any other guy.”

“Just checking.”

Darla frowned, not sure where all this was going. “You've got triplets, so why wouldn't I keep working, too?”

Jackie shrugged. “Pete doesn't mind me working.”

Darla wondered if Judah cared if she worked. If he did, he was going to get a fat lip. “This dress shop was my brainchild, and I wouldn't give it up for him. I don't think he'd ask, either.”

Jackie nodded. “I was pretty certain you'd feel that way.”

Tickles of unease ran over Darla. “You're not telling me everything. What happened?”

Jackie sighed. “Judah came to me and offered to buy out my half of the shop.”

“What?” Darla couldn't believe what she was hearing. “Why?”

“Well, Pete says Judah was planning on giving it to you as a wedding gift.”

Darla thought about that. “But I don't want to own the whole store. I like the way we have things set up.” She frowned. “How dare he?”

“I think Judah has your best interests at heart, Darla,” Jackie said calmly. Her efforts to soothe her weren't working, however, because Darla was practically quivering with anger.

“Why?” she asked her friend. “Why do you think that?”

Jackie's face wore a how-do-I-get-myself-out-of-this expression. “Pete says if you own the whole store, you can sell it and have more time for the babies.”

Darla began to quiver again. “I haven't even thought that far ahead. Why would Judah think he has to be involved in my business?”

“Because he's a man, and because he's a Callahan, and because he honestly thinks he's doing the right thing.”

“By thinking for me?” Darla soothed Molly and Belle, who were beginning to get restless from the angry tone of their mother's voice.

“He says he doesn't want you too tired out.” Jackie nodded. “And you know, Darla, when we bought the shop, we were single women, and now we're married with children, and your babies are very delicate—”

“Don't give me that. You don't want to sell your half,” Darla said. “I know you too well.”

“No, but if it's best for you—”

“It's not,” Darla said, her tone dark with finality. “Just forget my husband ever brought this up.”

“Oh, dear,” Jackie said. “I don't want to cause trouble.”

“You didn't. Judah did.”

And the moment her man got home, he was going to get his chauvinistic tendencies trimmed way back. There was a difference between diamond-and-sapphire bracelets and buying out one's sister-in-law—a difference her handsome husband was about to learn.

“S
TORM BREWING TO THE
east,” Rafe told Judah as they put away the last of the horses. “We'll pull the barn doors shut when we go.”

“Okay.” Judah glanced over his shoulder at the bruised sky. Winds were swirling the clouds, sending them scudding across the dark heavens. “When's Diane coming back?”

“She and Sidney return tonight. They'll take the girls to their new house in Durant, where Sidney lives.” Rafe put his saddle away, and Judah did likewise. “I'm going to miss the heck out of the little girls.”

“Whoa,” Judah said, an arrow of sadness shooting through him. “I guess I should have expected that.” The girls had been going back and forth from Jackie to Fiona to Aberdeen while their mother was gone, with Aberdeen keeping them at night. Still, Judah was going to miss the sound of their young voices.

“It's sad, but nothing stays the same. Eventually, all little birds fly away,” Rafe said.

“We didn't.”

“Our jobs are here,” Rafe reminded him. “But you tried to fly. You just got your wings clipped.”

“I think of it more as if I got my wings retooled. They're better now.” Judah was proud of how he was handling his new settled life. He couldn't wait for the big All's Clear from the doctor—he was going to make love to his wife until he gave out. “Life's great. You should try marriage.”

“Not me,” Rafe said. “I don't do relationships.”

“Neither did I,” Judah said, pretty cheerful about the new him.

“So, about the other night,” Rafe said. “What made you ask about our parents?”

He shrugged. “I'd like to know. Wouldn't you?”

“I don't know. I'm a year older than you. I understand that there are some things we'll never know. At twenty-nine, you decide it's too late to know some things.”