A Family Name (22 page)

A sharp knock at the door caused them to
spring apart like two teenagers caught making out in the rec room.
For a moment Charlotte thought that the kids were back, but they
wouldn't have knocked. They would have barged right in. Thank
goodness that hadn't happened.

"I'll get that," Will said, a smug smile
curving across his mouth. "You take a minute. Unless you want
whoever is at the front door to know that you were just thoroughly
kissed. Too bad they interrupted us."

The smirk he gave her as he headed to the
foyer told Charlotte that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt her
feelings for him. She wrapped her arms around herself and sagged
against the counter for support. Now her soul had been laid bare to
him. The vulnerability that Charlotte felt at the moment terrified
her. Over the years she had learned, out of necessity, to close
herself off, to protect herself from closeness. She had been hurt
too many times. Lexi had broken down her walls, and Will had led
her to a new place entirely. Despite the fact that she had not
wanted to admit the depth and breadth of her feelings for Will,
Charlotte knew she was in love with him. In a few short months he
had gone from a stranger that had threatened her little start at a
family to the person she considered her best friend. He was her
family, along with the kids. And after that kiss… well, Charlotte
had a feeling Will could at least guess what was going on inside
her.

"Charlotte?"

She started at the sound of his voice. The
hoarseness was back, coupled with something else she couldn't
identify right away. Then it struck her that he sounded afraid. The
thought of Will being scared propelled her toward the front hall.
She nearly collided with him as she rounded the corner. Standing at
the door was an older couple, immaculately dressed, him in a casual
suit, her in a tailored skirt and blouse. They looked completely
out of place on the ranch. Charlotte guessed who they were before
Will said a thing.

"Charlotte, these are Sierra and Shane's
grandparents," Will said.

Bile rose in Charlotte's throat and the
bottom dropped out of her world. She felt herself sway against Will
as she forced a smile onto her face and a greeting to her lips.

****

Lexi frowned over her plate of spaghetti,
casting surreptitious glances at the man and woman seated opposite
her, eating quietly, occasionally making pleasant conversation. Dad
had said these people were Shane and Sierra's grandparents, but
really they were traitors. Couldn't they see how happy everyone
here was? Ugh, why did they have to come and ruin it?

Sierra and Shane didn't seem to know these
people any better. The little boy had taken to sucking on his
fingers again, and he'd barely spoken three words since they'd
gotten back from Grandma Karen's with a huge box of cookies. Sierra
had been polite, but then again Lexi had noticed that her little
sis…she halted the thought as it was in progress. She should never
have started to think of Sierra and Shane as her brother and
sister. She knew families never really lasted.

With an angry sigh, Lexi stabbed at her
spaghetti with her fork, creating the ugly clanky scrapping sound
Dad hated. She expected, even wanted, him to scold her. Just to
have things feel normal again. Instead he barely blinked. So she
did it again. And again. Finally Charlotte reached over and
squeezed her shoulder gently. Tears sprang to Lexi's eyes. At least
Charlotte seemed to understand what was wrong.

After they had finished eating, Shane climbed
down from his booster seat, and came around the table. He leaned
his warm little body against Lexi while he sucked on his fingers.
She put an arm around his shoulders, and rested her chin on the top
of his head. No matter what she told herself, she had come to think
of Shane as her brother. She felt protective of him, and there was
no way she was going to let these people ruin what they had. She
had no idea what she was going to do, but she did know that she was
going to save her family.

Charlotte took a shaky breath as the phone
rang. By the fifth ring she was ready to hang up, but she gave it a
few more.

Finally she was rewarded as a familiar voice
said, "Hello?"

"Hi, um, Mom. Erm, this is Charlotte."

"Oh, sweetie! I'm so glad you've called. We
haven't heard from you in forever. How are you? I tried calling you
a month or so ago but your line was disconnected. I was so worried,
but your dad told me to wait and you'd call just like you always
do."

As she listened to her foster mom chatter,
Charlotte felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She had been so swept
up in her self-centered life that she hadn't even thought to tell
them what was going on. They didn't have that kind of relationship.
They talked a few times a year. That was it. At least that was how
Charlotte had always rationalized it. And yet, she knew that the
more likely reason that they only talked a few times a year, and
that that was the type of relationship they had, was because of
her. Charlotte knew she had to own up to the fact that she had
issues that needed to be addressed. She needed to own her part in
all of this.

"Mom, listen, I've got a lot to tell you. Is
Dad around?"

After an hour on the phone, Charlotte hung up
with her spirits flying high and a smile on her face. She felt
amazing, and she knew that she would be hearing from her foster
parents much more often.

She practically danced down the hall to the
kitchen where Lexi was sitting at the table leafing through a feed
store catalogue. Charlotte found it endearing that the girl was so
motivated to learn everything she could about ranch life.

"Hey, Lex, how are you?" Charlotte crossed to
fill a glass with water.

Lexi frowned at her. "Okay, I guess. Those
people took Sierra and Shane out to see the sheep. They asked if I
wanted to come. Why would they think I'd want to get to know them?
They aren't my grandparents. And they're stealing our family."

Charlotte's heart tugged as she saw the pain
in Lexi's eyes. She knew how the girl felt, she really did, but
what could she do? Her conversation with her foster parents made
her think that maybe it was time to try to reconnect Lexi with
Mary. The move was risky, but deep down Charlotte knew that Lexi at
least needed closure, if nothing else, with her birth mom.

"Hey, where's your dad?" Charlotte asked.

"Horse barn. I think he's avoiding Grandpa.
Uncle Wyatt stopped by a while ago, and that's what he told me."
Lexi shrugged and turned her attention back to the catalogue spread
before her.

"Okay, then I think I'll go have a chat with
him. You okay here by yourself?" Charlotte asked.

"I think I'll see if Uncle Walker is back at
his place. Is that okay?" Lexi closed the magazine, and looked up
hopefully.

"Don't bother him, though. He's had a lot of
stress lately with the drought and cattle prices being down. If
he's not up for a visit come home or head to Grandma's, okay?"
Charlotte cringed as the words left her mouth.

Luckily Lexi only rolled her eyes and
grinned. "Okay. I won't be a pain, I promise."

They headed out of the house together but
went in different directions once outside. Charlotte paused to
watch the girl practically skip down the gravel driveway. Walker's
cabin would take her awhile to walk to, but maybe it would give her
something else to focus on other than her growing irritation with
Shane and Sierra's grandparents.

The horse barn was cool and quiet other than
the whinnying of horses. "Will?" Charlotte's voice echoed, making
the horses nearest the door nicker in response.

"Down here."

Charlotte followed the sound of his voice,
stumbling a bit as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Will was
crouched in a stall near the middle of the barn, a horse's hoof
propped up on his knee, a hoof pick in his hand. He shot her a warm
smile as she approached.

"Hey, I just got off the phone with my foster
parents." Charlotte cringed at the awkward opening to the
conversation, but she didn't know how else to broach the
subject.

Will paused, wiped the sweat from his
forehead, and quirked up one side of his mouth. "How'd that go? I
know you were nervous about calling."

A shiver of delight skittered along her spin.
She loved that he remembered that. "It was great actually. But, um,
that's not why I came out here."

Finishing with the horse, Will let the hoof
drop back down and he stood up. Charlotte tipped her head back to
look up at him. She noticed that he hadn't had a haircut recently,
and tiny curls were appearing around his ears. It took everything
in her not to reach up and brush them back. There would be time
enough for that later. Right now she needed to focus on Lexi.

"Okay," he said slowly. "This sounds kind of
serious. Is something wrong?"

Charlotte shook her head quickly. "No,
nothing's wrong. It's just, well, I think we need to talk about
taking Lexi back to see Mary. Wait, before you say anything, hear
me out. Before today I think I would have agreed that the best
thing was just to keep Lexi protected from a repeat experience. But
all we would be teaching her is how to shut out people who might
care about her. I spent far too much of my life doing that. If Lexi
hadn't come along and changed all that… well, I don't know where I
would have ended up, or who I might have become. But let me just
say, I don't want to know who that person was, loving this family
has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. These kids
have changed me into a far better person than I ever could have
hoped to be."

Will reached out, and ran his hands along her
shoulders. "I'm glad. And I don't disagree with you actually. I'm
just worried about what kind of reaction Mary will have, not just
to Lexi but to me. I guarantee that I'll be going along if we do
end up taking her."

"Of course," Charlotte said, covering his
hands with her own. "We can plan things out more carefully this
time, give Mary advance notice. Prep Lexi better. Last time. Oh,
Will. Last time she just showed up on Mary's doorstep. Kind of like
what we did to you."

"Yeah, but I'm better equipped to handle that
sort of thing emotionally, at least from what you told me about
Mary. You know, it really breaks my heart. Despite all the anger I
still feel toward her about keeping Lexi a secret, I cared about
her once upon a time. And we do share a daughter. A daughter she
should know. Do you mind taking the lead on this one?" Will
searched Charlotte's face. She could feel his apprehension but she
was so thrilled that he was open to this suggestion.

"Not at all. I'll make the initial phone call
tonight. Let's not mention anything to Lexi until we know what's
going on."

"You really are a remarkable woman," Will
said before he leaned in to kiss her.

Charlotte's toes curled in her boots the
moment their lips met. No matter what the future held, no matter
how tenuous the strands of happiness seemed to be, this moment,
right now, was perfect.

****

Will swallowed hard and adjusted the cuffs of
his shirt for the fourth time in as many minutes. He hadn't been
this nervous in a long time. With a glance in the rearview mirror,
he could see that his daughter was not doing much better. She had
insisted on dressing up for this trip, and was wearing the dress
his mom had gotten her for her graduation gift. Either from nerves
or discomfort, Lexi kept tugging at the collar of the dress, which
Will thought was a bit too low for a thirteen-year-old. At least
she'd agreed to wear a cardigan over it.

He started when Charlotte reached across the
seat and took his hand. He was grateful for her presence. He had
lain awake late last night thinking about his relationship with
Mary. No matter how many times he turned the situation over in his
head, he remained angry that she had hidden Lexi from him. And yet…
what would have happened if they had stayed together? He knew it
would have simply been for the baby, and what kind of life would
that have made for the three of them? But then his guilt kicked in
and he knew that he could have at least saved Lexi from all those
years in foster care.

"Are you sure Mary is expecting us?" Will
asked, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat, and tried to return
his attention to Rapid City traffic. He hit his blinker, and turned
toward a neighborhood he was not familiar with.

"Positive." Charlotte rubbed his knee
reassuringly. "She sounded happy at the thought of seeing us. I
think she might have sorted out her medication issues. Regardless,
it's always better to give people notice."

From the corner of his eye, Will caught
Charlotte sending a furtive glance toward Lexi in the back seat.
The girl had her headphones on and seemed oblivious to their
discussion, but one could never tell with her.

"So this is where Mary lives, huh?" Will
pulled up the apartment building. His gut reaction was that he was
glad he had Lexi, not Mary. The place was practically a hovel.
Guilt nagged at his conscience. Judging Mary on where she lived
would not do any of them any good, and it was just plain mean as
Charlotte would point out if he mentioned his thoughts out
loud.

"This neighborhood can be a bit rough,"
Charlotte said, her tone light.

Will could read between the lines enough to
know what that meant. He turned toward Charlotte, and keeping his
voice low, said, "Lexi is not to come here alone under any
circumstances."

Charlotte nodded, casting a glance into the
back seat. "Mary has no parental rights or visitation rights so you
don't need to worry. Any and all visits will be under our, I mean,
your control."