21.

R OSIE

A knock on the front door roused me from sleep, and I opened my eyes to find that it was barely light outside. Since it was so early, I was careful getting out of bed so I didn't wake up Rooster and pulled on a hoodie and some leggings before I walked downstairs to answer the door.

When I opened it, I found my dad waiting for me, and I smiled at him as I asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. I saw the light on over at the other cabin and talked to Sandi. She said that Eric had a restful night, his color was better, and she even got him to drink some broth."

"That's good."

"I saw a sign for a coffee shop when I was driving in yesterday and thought I'd come get my favorite girl to buy me a cup or two."

I knew that was my dad's way of saying he wanted to talk to me alone, so I nodded before I said, "I need to brush my hair and put on some shoes, but I'd love to go with you. Do you want to come inside and wait or . . ."

Dad interrupted me with a shake of his head as he glanced past me into the cabin. "I'll wait out here."

"Okay, I won't be long," I assured him. I gently shut the door and then rushed back up the stairs only to find that we'd woken up Rooster anyway. He was sitting on the edge of the bed running his hands over his face. "Mornin'."

"Hey, baby," Rooster grumbled in a voice still rough with sleep. "Is everything okay?"

"Dad checked on Eric, and he did well overnight. I'm going to have coffee with him."

"Want me to come?"

"No. I think he wants to talk to me alone."

"Probably about me," Rooster said with a pointed look. "If it was Kerrigan who took off and met some criminal, believe me, we'd be more than talking over a cup of coffee."

I laughed before I leaned down and gave him a quick kiss, mindful of the fact that neither of us had brushed yet, and then I walked toward the bathroom to do just that as I said, "Dad is aware of my age, but I could be approaching retirement and he'd still worry about me."

"As he should. Like I said, from a father's perspective, I understand why he's worried. I didn't get a chance to talk to him yesterday, man-to-man, but I'll make sure I do that today."

"Oh? Are you going to tell him what your intentions are with his little princess?" I teased around a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Yes, I am."

"And what are those intentions?" I asked.

"I fully intend on dragging you to the altar and knocking you up before you make millions of dollars with your best-selling romance books and try to replace me with a cover model named Billy Ray or some shit."

I rinsed my mouth out and spit in the sink before I burst out laughing and asked, "Billy Ray? Really?"

"Hey, it's better than Brewster."

"I like Brewster.It's unique."

"Well, that makes one of us," Rooster grumbled as he stopped in the bathroom doorway and leaned against the frame. I took a second to enjoy the sight of his naked body: fit, but not too fit, and muscular from hard work rather than time spent in the gym. I smiled when he caught me staring. "If you keep looking at me like that, your dad's gonna end up hating me more than he probably already does."

"Why's that?" I asked as I pulled my hoodie off so I could put on my bra.

"Because it's gonna take you longer than a minute or two to get downstairs, and when you do, it will be with messy hair and flushed cheeks from our quickie in the bathroom."

"Don't threaten me with a good time," I warned before I pulled my hoodie back on and walked over and stood in front of him.

He reached up and brushed my hair out of my face and said, "You've already got that freshly fucked look, Curious."

"That's because you did exactly that two times after we got out of the shower, and I didn't have a chance to braid my hair before I went to sleep."

"Passed out is more like it," Rooster teased before he gave me another quick kiss. He picked up his baseball cap that he'd tossed onto the vanity last night before he got in the shower with me and settled it on my head. "Get out of here, sweetheart. I don't want your dad to come looking for you."

"I'll be back before too long."

Rooster warned, "I might not be here. Since I'm already up, I'm going to get Kerrigan and take her to school like I usually do."

"Okay," I said as I walked out of the bathroom. "Tell her I said hello, and maybe swing by the coffee shop and introduce her to my dad."

"You want to butter him up with her cuteness, don't you?"

"I'm pulling out the big guns, baby. I know exactly where to hit him to make an impact. He'll adore her just like I do."

"Who wouldn't?" Rooster asked as I started down the stairs. "She's fucking awesome just like her daddy."

I was still laughing as I opened the front door and walked out onto the porch. Dad was leaning against the rail, looking out over the land, his focus on the animals behind Rooster's place. Just as I stepped up beside him, Cluck Norris did his early morning wake-up call. I smiled at the sound.

"Does he think he's Old MacDonald or what?"

"You're just pissed because when Mom finds out he's got chickens, she's going to be jealous."

"You think your mom's gonna come here to visit?"

"I'm surprised she's not already here," I said with a laugh. "Admit it. You are too."

"That's true. I'll call and tell her to come on, not that she needs my permission, but I can at least pretend my input matters, right?"

"Something like that." I reached out and took his hand in mine before I said, "Until she gets here, you'll have me all to yourself, but before you start grilling me, can I at least have a cup of coffee?"

"I suppose," Dad said as he squeezed my hand.

The stroll to the coffee shop was quiet as we took in the trees and sounds of nature waking up around us. Before too long, we were walking into the front door of the lodge.

"Maleficent!" Kerrigan shouted when she saw me.

"Ursula!"

Kerrigan hopped toward us for some reason and then stopped a few feet away and did a flawless cartwheel before she threw her arms up in the air and smiled. Dad and I were smiling at her as she widened her eyes and said in a stage whisper, "You're supposed to clap!" Dad and I obliged, and Kerrigan bowed when Dad whistled loudly. "Thank you!"

"Dad, this is Kerrigan, and the other member of her adoring audience is Dianna," I said as I pointed in her direction. She smiled since she was talking to a guest who was checking out and then winked at her daughter. "She's Dianna and Rooster's daughter."

"You're her dad?" Kerrigan asked.

"I am."

"But Maleficent doesn't have a dad."

"Technically, neither does Ursula," I argued.

"But she has a brother."

"She does?" I asked.

"Yeah," Kerrigan scoffed. "King Triton is her brother, but they don't get along. I get it because my little brother and sister make me nuts."

Dad laughed before he said, "My little brother has been making me nuts for years."

"That never goes away?"

"Hasn't yet," Dad said.

"Well, crap." Kerrigan sighed before she asked, "Are you going to get coffee?"

"We are."

"I have to go eat breakfast and wait for Daddy to take me to school."

"Last I talked to him, he was about to get in the shower so he could come down and get you."

"Okay! I better hurry. He hates to be late." Kerrigan waved at us and then hopped away.

Once she'd gone through the door behind Dianna, she said, "She thinks that if she hops long enough, we'll get the hint and Rooster will buy her some rabbits."

"Will he?" I asked.

"Probably." She sighed and then looked up at the ceiling before she asked, "Who am I kidding? Of course he will." Dianna walked around the counter and extended her hand to my dad before she said, "Hello! I'm Dianna."

"Chandler Jacobs, Rosie's father."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The phone on the desk rang, and Dianna grimaced. "Duty calls. Y'all enjoy your coffee."

"Always," I assured her before I started walking toward the door that led into the side of the cafe. "Want me to bring you anything?" Dianna shook her head as she answered the phone, and I told Dad, "It looks like they're not too busy yet, so I can introduce you to Mads."

"Who is that?"

"She's my newest bestie," I said cheerfully as Dad pulled the door open for me to go in ahead of him. "And she just happens to be Rooster's little sister."

"He's already got you thoroughly entrenched, doesn't he?" Dad muttered. When I turned around and frowned at him, he said, "Lead the way, Rosie-girl. I need coffee."

"Go ahead and find us a seat, and I'll bring it to you," I offered.

Dad didn't answer, just walked toward the table by the window and pulled out a chair. I made my way to the counter and greeted Madison before I put in my order with her employee. Instead of waiting at the counter, I walked over and sat down.

"Okay. Hit me with the hard stuff, and then I'll hit you back with some of my own."

Dad leaned forward and rested his crossed arms on the table before he asked, "Did you know that your new boyfriend has been in prison?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"He assaulted three men who were attacking a server who worked here in the restaurant with him."

"No, he didn't," Dad argued. "He assaulted three young men on the street as they were walking to their vehicles in the parking lot of the courthouse here in Red River. He didn't do it to protect anyone. It was retaliation for some slight, plain and simple."

"Hmm," I said as I looked out the window at the gorgeous colors of the morning sunrise. "That's interesting."

"That he lied to you about why he got locked up?"

"No, that he didn't tell me all the details."

"That's the same thing as a lie, Rosie."

"He simplified things, and I'll admit that I don't know why, other than to protect Dianna."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm just speculating here - and I'll get the real details from him later - but I think he attacked the men outside the courthouse in retaliation for their attack on Dianna."

"Regardless of the reason, he didn't do it to protect her like he told you."

"My guess is that he stopped them from attacking her, and when they weren't prosecuted, he took the law into his own hands."

"You don't know that."

"You're right, I don't, but I'm not going to automatically assume the worst about the man because I've seen how he interacts with people, especially his family. Whatever he did and for whatever reason doesn't matter as much to me as the man I've gotten to know over the last few weeks."

"If it's all based on a lie, then you don't really know him at all."

"But I do. I know the man who lives for his daughter. I know the man who planned from a very young age to take care of his little sister, no matter what needs she might have at the time or develop in the future. I know the man who has built his life around a business that will help him care for not just his daughter, but his sister who also depends on him and always will. I know the man who sits patiently with his sister while she sorts out the medications that are important for her to remain healthy and asks her every day if she remembered to take them because he doesn't ever want to lose her. And I know the man who would risk going to prison to right a wrong that he just can't live with. That's who I know; not the man you're trying to make him out to be."

"And what happens when his daughter grows up and his sister moves away? Will he still be the stable man you think you know, or will he revert back to his younger days and go rogue again?"

"Is that why you and Uncle Eric don't get along? Because he went rogue?"

"We're not talking about my brother here, Rosie. We're talking about you and the man you're willing to uproot your life for."

"Like you did for Mom?"

Dad sighed loudly before he leaned back against his chair. "You're not paying attention to what I'm trying to tell you, sweetheart."

"Oh, I'm paying attention, I just don't care."

"Here ya go!" Madison's cheerful voice broke the tension at the table when Dad looked up and found her smiling at him. She set his coffee in front of him and then slid mine across to me before she pulled out the chair next to me and plopped down. "This morning has been crazy already. I called Rooster because the sink is draining slow, and he's on his way with the machine but can't do anything about it until after he takes Kerrigan to school."

"Can Clark look at it for you?"

"Clark cooks things. Roo fixes things. We all have our jobs."

"Dad, this is Madison Mannin, Rooster's little sister."

"Hi!" Madison said as she stuck her hand out to shake his.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Madison."

"It's nice to meet you too! Rosie said I probably would when she takes me home to meet her family at the end of the month." In an abrupt change of subject, she asked, "Do you know the Rojo Kings too?"

Dad smiled and nodded, and Madison got so excited that she had to bite her lips to hold in a squeal. "She said I might see them there!"

Dad glanced over at me in question, and I shook my head just a bit to tell him not to give anything away, so he said, "They might be cruising around. You never know. I hear that they're fond of a specific diner in town. Maybe y'all can go there and spot them."

I winked at him in thanks for his evasion, and Madison said, "Rosie has friends who own a coffee truck that she wants me to meet. She said we'd have a lot to talk about since we do the same thing."

"I take it you work here for your brother?"

Madison laughed before she asked, "How do you know he doesn't work for me?"

"I just assumed that . . . I thought that . . . " Dad stammered. I just let him dig his own hole, wondering how he would get out of it and well aware he was finding himself in that uncomfortable spot because he'd made the wrong assumption. Again.

"I'm a partner, not an employee. The coffee shop is mine, and the bar is Roosters," Madison explained. "Clark has the restaurant, and Dianna is in charge of the guests."

"I apologize for my assumption," Dad said honestly. "I'd imagine that it's a lot of hard work and early hours, running a coffee shop."

"Oh, it is!" Madison agreed. "I have to go to bed really early or I'm a grumpy bear, and nobody needs that with their coffee."

"It seems like you're pretty busy here. I'd imagine that it's a lucrative business." When Madison shrugged, Dad asked, "Do you make enough money to get by?"

"I get a paycheck every week," Madison said, confused at the question.

"Since you're the owner, do you get all of the profit or does your brother?" Dad asked.

"Dad! It's rude to . . ."

Madison didn't see a problem with Dad's question and answered, "My paycheck belongs to me, but my share of the profits goes into a trust fund. If I want any of that money, I have to call my lawyer and then he has to call the man at the bank, and they have a meeting about it."

"Your brother isn't in control of your money?"

"No. He said that teamwork makes things more honest, and he doesn't want the responsibility because some people might think he's taking . . . " Madison looked to the side and blew out her breath before she said, "What's the word he used?"

"Advantage?" I asked.

"Yeah! He doesn't want people to take advantage of me, so he got me a lawyer who helped find some people we can trust. They take my money and make more of it for me instead of me spending it like I do with my paycheck. That way, I'll always have money if I need it and no one can take it away from me." Madison was bored with the conversation and said, "Oh! I want to go buy some things for our trip, but I need a ride. Rooster will take me, but he hates to shop. Will you take me?"

"When?" I asked. Madison shrugged, so I suggested, "Why don't we go shopping after we get our nails done Wednesday?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, it's a date."

"I'll tell Roo. He'll be glad he doesn't have to go." Madison glanced over at the counter and winced before she said, "I've gotta get back to work!"

"It was nice to meet you."

"Mondays are family dinner nights. Since you're family, you'll be there, right?"

"Um . . ."

"I'll see you then!" Madison said cheerfully before she rushed off.

"Hmm. Imagine that. He's not screwing her out of the money that's rightfully hers. How horrible of him. I guess he missed the memo that that's what a criminal would do in this situation," I said sarcastically. "Next thing you know, he'll be helping old ladies carry their groceries. What a menace! He must be stopped."

"Your sarcasm is noted but completely unnecessary."

"He fucked up, Dad, and then he paid for it. I don't know the whole story, but neither do you. I know that you're not all black and white when it comes to everyone else, so why do you have to be in this situation?"

"I think these are some details you should get before you turn your whole life upside down for him, Rosie."

"And I will, but I'm happy here. It's calm . . . well, relatively calm, considering what happened yesterday. Hopefully, that was an anomaly."

"Knowing Eric, I sincerely doubt that."

I ignored that barb and asked, "Dad, can you go into this with an open mind? Please?"

"Just because he's good to his sister and loves his daughter doesn't make him a good man, Rosie."

"But it's a great start, don't you think?"