Chapter 17

17

S everal days after spotting Maude at the park, Callum's doctor took off the awful plaster cast and replaced it with a lighter weight Aircast.

He celebrated by giving the nanny the afternoon off and pulling out a half-gallon carton of chocolate ice cream back at the house.

His phone rang as the boys were digging in to their treat.

Amanda Elliott.

With his cast off and a glance around his orderly home, he felt better prepared to answer her call.

His sense of pride and preparedness flew away like chaff on the wind when she opened with, "The Jamisons are petitioning the court for visitation rights."

He was stunned. He couldn't find words.

The social worker went on. "I've met with Maude. She seems genuinely sorry about what happened. She has a health condition, and she wants to spend time with Levi and Brandt before it gets any worse."

If only he could trust that Maude had had a change of heart and just wanted to visit with them. He couldn't blame her for that much. Levi and Brandt were the last part of her deceased daughter. Maybe the best part.

But that didn't mean he could trust her.

"You're on her side?" He couldn't keep the anger out of his voice. He glanced over his shoulder to the small round kitchen table where the boys were covered in chocolate. They didn't need to see him lose his temper. He hobbled out of the front door and down the steps, carefully closing the door behind him. They'd be all right for a few minutes.

"I'm on the boys' side," Miss Elliott said. "The Jamisons aren't asking for overnight visits or anything like that. They just want some supervised time with the boys. To start."

Maybe that was where they started, but what did they win in the long run? They were working by the book now, but did they still want to take the boys away from him?

He couldn't breathe, felt that painful cinch around his chest all over again. He ran his hand through his hair and squeezed the back of his neck.

What should he do?

"The boys have grandparents who love them and want to see them," Miss Elliott said. "In my opinion, it's better to keep the courts out of this."

It sure sounded like she thought he should agree to these visits. What did that even mean? For him to sit through a visit with the with Maude Jamison? Or somebody else to be the person supervising the visit? He'd feel a lot better if it were him.

Until they'd gone off the deep end, he'd always gotten along pretty well with the Jamisons. He'd never wanted to keep the boys from them.

As a kid, he'd spent so many sleepless nights in a foster home bed, wishing for any kind of family who wanted him. To separate the boys from the only family they had in the world besides him… He never would have considered it—until they'd kidnapped them.

"Would you be open to trying a supervised visit?" she pushed.

He ended the call in turmoil, and, when the boys opened the front door moments later, he still didn't know if he'd made the right decision.

"Daddy, play with us!"

Brandt brushed past him down the stairs, and Levi followed his brother into the sunshine.

He'd missed this. Roughhousing with his boys. Having the freedom to move freely.

He felt a little guilty for how little he'd been able to do for them and with them over the past few weeks.

So he started chasing them around the yard with a roar, though he was still careful not to put too much weight on his leg.

That was how Iris found them when she pulled up in her old farm truck a few minutes later.

The boys squealed her name and ran to her. She scooped them both in for hugs. When she glanced up, her soft, questioning expression slayed him.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Hey."

"Hey." She ruffled Brandt's hair.

Levi clung to her leg like a monkey. "I was missin' you."

"I was missing you, too, squirt." She smiled down at his son, and it was a little like the sun parting clouds.

Had he lost his mind? Jilly'd seemed sure that Iris still cared about him. After seeing Maude in person and talking with Amanda, his reaction to one unauthorized phone call seemed extreme.

Would Iris forgive him, if he asked?

Because he would be an idiot not to chase her, romance her, keep her in his life.

She was everything.

Seeing her again reminded him of all he'd once felt for her. All he still felt for her.

She flushed under the intensity of his stare but met his gaze squarely. That had to be a good sign, right? "I need to talk to you."

"All right. You wanna walk for a bit?"

Her gaze swept him, and she smiled. "You got your cast off."

He mimed doing a few steps of a line dance. "Feeling footloose." He got serious. "I never thanked you for helping put the house in order. Thank you."

She blushed a little. "You're welcome."

And his boys refused to let the serious mood stand.

Brandt tugged on her hand. "We got some baby cows!"

Iris raised her eyebrows. "You did?"

Callum shook his head. "The first bull calves arrived last night from El Paso. The boys won't stop talking about them."

She fell into step beside him, and they started toward the barn.

The boys spotted a butterfly and ran ahead to chase it.

Which gave him the perfect opportunity to apologize.

Before he could open his mouth, she said, "I'm really sorry. I should never have taken that phone call from Maude without your permission."

He bumped her elbow with his, hands still in his pockets. "I'm sorry I lost my temper with you. I was?—"

"Scared. I know." Her tender smile made his heart take flight.

"The Jamisons want to visit the boys."

She looked surprised.

"Supervised visits," he said quickly.

"Of course. Here on the Red Cedar? Or in town?"

He shrugged. "Don't know yet." He'd barely decided to let one meeting happen. A trial.

"You should ask Cord and Molly go with you. As backup."

He leveled a long look on her as they neared the barn. Her hair was in a braid, and she was dressed as if she'd been working all morning. She was beautiful.

She flushed again. "What?"

"Nothing." He wasn't ready to tell her, not yet. "I hadn't thought about asking someone to go with me." He'd been alone for so long that asking his friend for help hadn't even occurred to him.

She nodded along like she was reading his mind. "I know Cord would be glad to do it."

He tipped his head. "What'd you want to talk to me about?"

Before she could answer, Brandt and Levi ran up to them. "See the baby cows, Iris!"

She allowed herself to be tugged inside the barn by the hand. She "oohed" and "ahhed" over the ten bulls.

They were heading away from the big former birthing stall where he'd temporarily housed them when Levi climbed onto a stack of hay bales in a stall near the exit.

"Catch me, Daddy!"

Callum barely had time to stretch his arm out before Levi launched off the top of the hay bale. He caught the boy, but it threw him off-balance, and his shoulder knocked into the wall.

He saw Brandt start climbing the bales and quickly passed Levi to Iris. "Here. Take this."

She laughed as he dumped the boy into her arms.

Brandt shrieked, and Callum caught him too.

"Get your daddy!" Iris was still holding Levi, and she moved so that he was close enough to poke Callum's side.

He grabbed Levi from her so that he had a twin in each arm and took turns nuzzling his nose into the back of their necks with a playful growl as they struggled to escape.

He set them on their feet, and they scrambled away, laughing and shrieking some more as they dived into a broken hay bale that had been scattered across the floor.

"Iris! Rescue us!"

Levi ducked behind Iris, who stood watching with a bemused smile. When she realized he was stalking her , she started for the door.

"She can't save you!"

Brandt grabbed Callum's thigh, still giggling and shouting.

But he had a new target now. He got hold of her wrist and reeled her in like roping a steer.

Iris wriggled and pushed against him with her opposite hand. "Cal!"

In this teasing, playful moment, everything else slipped away. It was just him and Iris and the boys.

She slid under his arm instead of pulling away, almost like a ballroom dance turn.

It brought them face-to-face, her right up to his chest, and he sucked in a surprised breath. Her eyes sparkled up at him.

And then she started tickling his ribs, the only ticklish place on his body. He jumped at the unexpected sensation, wobbled, and with two boys underfoot, he almost toppled.

He stumbled forward a few steps, dragging the three of them with him. They tumbled out into the sunshine, laughing.

He met Iris's gaze and winked.

They moved as one to capture the boys between them like London Bridge, locking the squirming, giggling boys in the prison of their arms.

When they were done roughhousing, the boys ran ahead toward the house while he and Iris lagged behind.

Seeing Iris today, playing with her and the boys... It did something to fill up that empty place inside of him.

She brought him joy.

But just like when they'd been teenagers, he hesitated.

It was easy to fall back into long-ago memories, chasing her into the sunset on horseback. He'd been seventeen, she sixteen.

He'd called after her as she galloped ahead of him. "Iris!" Joe would be angry if he realized Callum had ridden out with Iris. He couldn't risk his job on the Red Cedar. It was the only way he could be close to Iris during the summer months.

He also couldn't seem to say no to her.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and laughed, the sound thrilling through him. His heart beat with each thud of his horse's hooves in the grassy soil.

He loved her. They'd been on a handful of official dates, but the way their relationship had progressed from friendship into something more had been natural. He couldn't deny his feelings anymore, not after two years of fighting them.

And Joe had gone into town for a cattleman's association meeting.

Callum knew Iris was the one. She was sweet and gentle and funny and outgoing.

And she probably deserved someone a lot better than him. Which was why he'd held off on kissing her. Eventually, she was gonna fall for one of the jocks on the football team, or the handsome, nerdy guy who'd been the lead in the school play. Not a loser like him.

Iris disappeared as she guided her horse down an impression toward the little farm pond in the back corner of Joe's property.

Like the dope he was, he followed, leaning back in the saddle to balance. Leather creaked beneath his weight, and the scent of water and mud rose to meet him.

He drew his mount up next to Iris. She'd given her horse its head, and he did the same. The animals shifted beneath them as they drank from the pond.

The sun slipped below the horizon, leaving them in the soft gray twilight.

"Joe scare you with those driving lessons?"

She smiled, her head tilting back and her eyes going to the sky. "It wasn't so bad. If I learn on the stick shift"—Joe's old farm truck—"it'll be easy taking the test in dad's car."

Her horse shifted a few inches toward him. Then a few more.

And then, instead of the feet that had separated them, there were only inches. Her denim-covered knee brushed his thigh, and he got a whiff of her sweet, flowery scent.

He looked down on her as she slipped her hand into his, their fingers intertwining.

"That was a neat trick."

She smiled up at him, her teeth white against her summer tan in the near-darkness. "Wasn't it? I've spent two weeks teaching her to get it just right."

He couldn't look away from her lips. The way they parted softly curled his toes in his boots, and even though he told himself to back away, he couldn't. Her face tilted toward him. She met him. And he kissed her, a tentative brush of their mouths. Except for the clasp of their hands, their lips were the only place they were joined.

Callum's horse blew and shifted, breaking the fragile connection.

A deep orange moon was rising over the horizon, and it bathed her face, still tilted up toward Callum's, with gold.

I love you . The words were there, caught just behind his clenched teeth. She liked him enough to kiss him, but he didn't know if that meant she felt more. He couldn't remember anyone loving him since his mom, and that was a vague memory, wispy as a faraway cloud.

He swallowed hard and looked away, out over the dark surface of the pond.

She squeezed his fingers. "Whatever it is you're afraid of, don't be."

He couldn't help looking back at her earnest, upturned face. It was uncanny how well she knew him, could sense his rioting emotions.

"I love you," she whispered. His brave, honest girl.

And the tornado of conflicting emotions inside him dissipated. He drew her in for another kiss, still clinging to her hand but letting his opposite hand come up to cup her jaw. He had the shakes, all the way from the top of his head to his boots, but she didn't seem to care, responding to his kiss sweetly.

And when he ended it, afraid to let things get too carried away, she leaned her head in the crook of his shoulder, and he found the courage to whisper, "I love you, too."

That night would be burned into his memory until the day he died.

And just like he'd been uncertain that night, he wasn't sure whether she'd be able to get past the fact that he'd walked away once before.

He had a lot of baggage. Opening up wasn't easy for him. It was hard for him to be vulnerable.

He was torn from his thoughts when her hand slipped into his.

Surprise and joy lit him up from inside, until he glanced at her and noticed her concerned frown and her gaze locked on something up by the house.

A dark-colored sedan.

And the man climbing out of it. Wade Tatum.

Iris felt Callum stiffen beside her.

She didn't know what her dad was doing here, but she knew it could get really nasty, really fast.

The twins had run back to them when they'd seen a stranger ahead, and Callum let go of her to rest a hand on each of the boys' heads.

Her dad wore suit pants and a white dress shirt, his tie loosened from his neck.

Her father's eyes flicked over her and then Callum in turn, taking in their disheveled appearances.

"Dad. What are you doing here?"

"I came to have a chat with your friend. Didn't realize I'd find you here." And, from the frown on his face, he wasn't happy about it.

"We have nothing to talk about," Callum said. "Get off my property."

Dad's eyes narrowed. "I told you to stay away from my daughter or you'd regret it."

The boys shrank against Callum's legs on either side.

Iris didn't know how to defuse the tension—or even if she could. "What an ugly thing to say," she said. "Callum and I are neighbors. And friends. Maybe one day we'll be more than that."

She glanced at the man beside her and saw the surprise and warmth flicker in his eyes before the blank mask descended over his features.

Her father smiled, but it was an ugly baring of his teeth.

"There are plenty of other decent men you could date."

Her chin came up. "And if Callum is the one I want to be with?"

She heard the near-silent gasp from the man beside her.

"Stewart is going to be destitute after he has to pay restitution to the town. Historic buildings are costly to rebuild."

Dad didn't know about the video footage she'd found. She wasn't going to bring it up now, not when Dad had come here with an agenda. The venom behind his words frightened her. She'd heard rumors that he could be ugly in business dealings, but she'd never seen his ugliness up close before.

She shrugged. "That hasn't been settled yet."

Dad's eyes glittered.

She wanted him out of here. His ugliness hurt. She walked toward her dad, moving away from Callum and the boys. Lowered her voice as she neared him. "You've never tried to interfere in my life like this before. Whatever is between you and Callum, maybe it's time to let it go."

Her father's lips twisted in a sneer. "He stole your uncle's land, and you're on his side?"

"He bought our land, mine and Jilly's, for a fair price." She was done with this conversation. "You need to go."

"He doesn't belong here." Now Dad's voice rose so that Callum was sure to hear. "I already told him what I was gonna do if he didn't leave town."

The hard light in her father's eyes was directed at Callum. This was personal.

Until he turned his snake-like gaze on her. "He probably didn't want you to know. The PD is considering opening a case against him for sexual assault ten years ago."

The threat hit like a sledgehammer to her insides. It was a direct echo of what Joe had threatened Callum with.

"We both know that's an outright lie." She hated that her voice trembled.

Dad's ugly smile reappeared. "Maybe they'll be able to scare up some witness testimony. Maybe not."

They wouldn't. Because Callum had never done any more than kiss her. Her father couldn't prove something that had never happened.

"Even if the PD can't get charges to stick, both your names would be dragged through the mud. That what you want to happen?"

Her reputation in town was spotless. No one would believe what her father was saying. Would they?

She'd seen before how gossip could turn to wildfire. She didn't care about her reputation, but she didn't want that for Callum.

When she gazed at him, she saw the muscle jumping in his cheek, the protective way he rested his hands on the twins' heads.

"How many more years before his brats go to kindergarten?" Dad asked. "You want them to be ostracized for something their dad did?"

She'd been shocked he'd threaten her. Hurt.

But to threaten two innocent little boys...?

She knew Callum had moved here to give Brandt and Levi the things he'd never had as a child. Stability. A good home, a community.

And Dad could rip all of that away.

"Do we understand each other?" Dad asked.

Callum stared at her, his expression dark, bleak. She couldn't look away.

She hadn't realized until just now, when her protective instincts were roaring inside her, how much she'd still loved him.

She couldn't let him be hurt. Not Callum. Not the boys.

She looked at Dad. "We understand each other."

Dad nodded. Got in his car and left.

And then she got in her truck and drove home, too.