Getting Lucky (35 page)

   "You think they'll let us keep him?" The word us didn't escape Griffin and his heart swelled up until it threatened to burst out of his chest.

   "I hope so. I have a friend at the jail that is planning to talk to his mother and father tomorrow morning. I didn't want to get your hopes up, but there's a slim possibility they might relinquish rights to him. They are facing a ten-year sentence at the very least. I'm almost afraid to say the words out loud for fear I'll jinx it."

   His words didn't take the pain away instantly, but they brought a measure of comfort.

   "Want a cup of coffee?" she asked.

   "I'd like more than that, but I suppose with three sugared-up kids, that's the best we can do," he answered.

   "Did you see his face when he opened that glove?"

   "I saw all their faces. And honey, you are a damn sight stronger than I am. I went to the men's room and washed my eyes to keep everyone from seeing the tears. I'm supposed to be the big strong daddy man, not the whimpering, slinging snot wimp," he said honestly.

   "I'm making myself a homemade banana split with all three scoops of ice cream. I deserve it after that weeping fit. It's not long until dusk and then they can unwrap our gifts from under the tree," she said.

   Griffin raised an eyebrow when she got out the ice cream and an enormous bowl.

   "You are going to share with me. I'm not getting fat all alone. Tell me a story about fate working miracles. Anything to get my mind off the kids growing up and not even being interested in Santa. Or to take my mind off the fact that they might come and take Chuck from us." She split a banana and put three scoops of ice cream in the middle of it.

   "Okay. Which one do you want? The one about Slade and Jane or the one about Milli and Beau?"

   "Both. They were a little bit nicer to me at the party last week. I dreaded going but Alvera is a sweetheart and she took my side."

   "I don't see anyone or anything intimidating you."

   Julie shook the spoon at him. "Those witches did. I thought they'd nail me to an altar and set me on fire. You Luckadeaus really do stick up for one another," she said. "So tell me about them both."

   "Just one today. You can have one today and one tomorrow. By then you'll forget about the kids growing up. Hell, you might be prayin' for them to hurry up and finish high school and go off to college," he said.

   "Bet me. I'll cry worse than they do when they graduate."

   "I hope not. I don't have that many stories," he said.

   "Okay then, one story," she said.

   "Which one?"

   "Milli and Beau. Katy Scarlett doesn't look like she should have Milli for a momma, does she?" Julie put the banana split on the table and handed him the extra spoon.

   "Not with those blue eyes and blonde hair and Milli being Mexican. But there's an English woman in the genetic woodpile. Milli's maternal grandmother is a blonde lady with English ancestors. One of the true blue bloods."

   "You're kidding." Either the chocolate was working or the ice cream was freezing the lump in her throat.

   "No, I'm not. Way I figure it is that's the way they got past all that Mexican heritage when Katy Scarlett was born. They figured she was a throwback to that grandmother."

   "Now my curiosity is really piqued."

   "Well, the story goes like this. Milli was engaged to a Mexican man that was so rich he could buy a third world country out of his back pocket. Met him when he came up to Hereford, Texas—that's out in the panhandle not too far from Amarillo—to buy cattle at her father's sale one year. He proposed a few weeks later and she accepted. But the sorry son of a bitch wasn't faithful and she caught him in a motel room with another woman."

   "So then she met Beau and they lived happily ever after?"

   "Not hardly. She broke it off with him and got an invitation to a wedding in Louisiana. Her high school friend had gone to college over in that area somewhere and met my cousin, Darrin Luckadeau. Milli went to the wedding and there was Beau. His girlfriend had broken up with him. Threw him over for another Luckadeau cousin. Anyway he was drunk as Cooter's owl and thought Milli was some kind of angel. They wound up in the back bedroom of a trailer that night. She was getting even with her ex-boyfriend and poor old Beau was just trying to relieve a broken heart."

   He stopped and ate several bites of banana split then sipped coffee.

   "Go on. We haven't got all day. The kids will inter rupt us any minute," she said.

   "Don't get your panties in a wad. I'm telling this story. So anyway, Milli went home. Got a taxi the next morning and left before Beau woke up. The only thing she left behind was a memory and an earring. Poor old Beau. Whole family knew he was lucky in everything but love. He always had the worst luck with women. So here he came out of the bedroom hunting for an angel and the cousins staying in that trailer convinced him she was a figment of his drunken imagination. He went on the wagon that night and to my knowledge still doesn't drink."

   "And?" she prompted impatiently.

   "Milli came home from college at Christmas and she was pregnant. Her brothers were ready to go drag that ex-boyfriend back with a shotgun in their hands. But she swore it wasn't his baby and she wouldn't tell who the child belonged to. So Katy Scarlett was born with blonde hair and blue eyes into a predominantly Mexican household. She does have a little toast on the skin color but the rest was pure blond Luckadeau. No one knew anything because Milli wouldn't tell. Then, when Katy was almost two, Milli's grandfather up in Oklahoma had to have his hip replaced. He asked Milli and Katy to help out that summer. Imagine Milli's surprise on her first day when she went to ride the fence row and found Beau on the other side."

   Julie finished off the last bite of ice cream. "I know just how she felt."

   "Yep, there they were on adjoining ranches. Beau's aunt got Alzheimer's and went to the nursing home after she gave her ranch to Beau, since he was her favorite nephew and she didn't have any children. Is that fate?"

   "What happened?" Julie leaned forward and propped her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands.

   "Beau was engaged to a schoolteacher named Amanda who was a real, honest-to-God bitch. Beau had been mooning after the angel who'd lost an earring but he was about to marry this gold-digging schoolteacher and that's the reason Milli was so cold toward you. Meanwhile, Milli had a child she was trying to hide."

   "Didn't he recognize her?" Julie asked. "I mean if he was mooning after her, surely he had her picture engraved on his heart."

   "He says something in the back of his mind kept telling him he'd met her somewhere. But Milli is not all sweet sugar candy. She's got a mouth and an attitude and they fought like cats and dogs from day one."

   "When did they discover happily-ever-after?" Julie asked.

   "Well, the night of his engagement party his fiancée came around with intentions of breaking up with him but really got hot when she found out about the pre-nup all Luckadeau brides have to sign. He told me that there was the woman he'd proposed to wearing his ring and he looked out the window and saw Milli in the same dress she'd worn to that wedding and by damn, he remem bered it all. He was almighty glad the fiancée threw the ring at him and broke it off. He and Milli danced all night together and it became just a party instead of an engagement party."

   "And Milli told him about Katy?" Julie asked.

   "No, he found out at church when some little old man made the comment about how much his daughter looked like him. I guess there were really fireworks on the way home that day. It took a few more months and a lot more fights but they finally admitted they were in love. I went to their wedding held up there on the ranch. Beau's mother is elated to have a granddaughter. Milli's mother is happy to have a father for Katy Scarlett. So there's your miracle. What's the chances of Milli and Beau ever finding each other? What's the chances of them ever making Katy Scarlett on a one-night stand?"

   "Graham and I did," she said.

   "And you have your own miracle, don't you?" Griffin said shortly.

   "Are you mad at me?"

   "No ma'am," he said curtly as picked up the ice cream dish and put it in the sink.

   "Yes, you are. You got mad when I mentioned having a one-night stand with your brother," she said.

   "Okay, yes, I did. Graham was my brother, the other half of me and I loved him—but I don't want to hear about you sleeping with him. I don't want to hear about my ex-wife kissing him. I loved him but I don't want to play second fiddle to him," Griffin said.

   "It happened. And believe me, Griffin, you don't have to worry about playing second fiddle to your brother. You are much more intense and sensitive and all those things a woman looks for in a long-term relationship. Truth of the matter is that I don't like to hear about you and Dian being drunk when you made Lizzy, either," Julie said.

   His blue eyes lit up. "Are you jealous?"

   "I don't know. I'll think about it and get back to you," she said.

   The children rushed in wanting cookies and milk and asking when it would be dark enough they could open presents.

   "Saved by the kids," he said.

   "They're always good for something or other," she smarted off and got up to help him pour three glasses of milk.

   While they ate, Griffin made an excuse about going to the barn to check on a calf, put on his coat, and left. The children gobbled down their cookies and milk and ran back upstairs to play Old Maid cards for one more hour before presents could be opened. Julie poured another cup of coffee and leaned against the countertop, trying to make sense of Griffin's jealousy. She'd barely had time to think about it when Sally opened the front door and grinned sheepishly when Julie peeked around the corner. She wore plaid flannel pajama bottoms and a gray tank top and her straight red hair hung limp.

   "Hello. Mercy, is it really four o'clock?" she asked as she headed for the coffee pot.

   "Looks like it was a good night," Julie said.

   Sally sipped the hot liquid and tried to open her eyes wide enough to put Julie in focus. "What am I going to do?"

   "You tell me," Julie joined her at the kitchen table.

   "I wish I would have known Alvie a year, then Momma wouldn't throw such a fit," Sally said.

   "Ever think of taking him over there one day this week to meet them?" Julie asked.

   "I don't want to. They'll love him, but…"

   "But you haven't told Momma you quit your job, have you?" Julie scolded.

   "I'm going to marry him," Sally said.

   "What are you going to do between now and then?"

   "The wedding is Tuesday morning and he'll be here in an hour to pick me up. We've got motel reservations in Nocona," Sally said.

   "I'm not telling her, Sally," Julie declared.

   "I've devised a way to do it. You just have to back me up, not tell a lie," Sally said.

Julie sighed.

   "I'm going to call her after I marry him and say I decided to get married rather than teach this year. I'm not going to tell her I've only known him a few days. I've already had all my things shipped home. The truck will be there on Wednesday. I'd planned to stay in your old apartment until I found something else to do."

   "So you've got two days to tell Momma. I'm glad I'm not wearing your shoes today," Julie said.

   "She'll be so happy that I'm not an old maid anymore that she won't even ask how long I've known Alvie. Did you know his whole name is Alton Vernon Marlon? His mother called him Alton Vernon and his brother, who died in the Gulf War—that's why he owns the whole ranch—shortened it to Alvie."

   "I don't care if his name is Santa Claus Scrooge. I'm not telling Momma," Julie said.

   "I'll tell her when you and Griffin get married," Sally whined.

   "That'll be a cold day in hell," Julie said.

   Sally laughed.

   "What's so funny?"

   "You might as well quit fighting fate, sister. Griffin is the man for you, the one you should have married in the beginning, but it wasn't the right time. Now it is. You will marry him."

   Julie cleared the dishes from the table and put them in the dishwasher. "Don't hold your breath until that happens. You'll die of suffocation."

   Sally giggled then stopped so suddenly that Julie looked around to see if she'd fainted or died.

   "Oh, my gosh, today is Sunday. It was the church program. I'm a horrible sister. I should have set the alarm in the hotel room and gotten up in time to go see it." She rushed to Julie's side and hugged her. "Did they do good?"

   "They did wonderful. I cried," Julie said. She didn't tell Sally that she'd done her weeping with Griffin's arms around her. Married, indeed! The woman had wedding cake for brains.

   "Please forgive me. Ever since I walked into that barn I've been so taken up with me and Alvie that I forget there's a world out there," Sally said.

   "Forgiven and forgotten," Julie said.

   "You always were the good daughter. I've been the bad child my whole life," Sally said.

   "One time I wasn't the good one," Julie argued.

   "And it got you a beautiful daughter. What do you think mine and Alvie's kids will look like?"

   Julie spewed coffee across the table. "Holy shit, you are serious?"