brides for brothers 04 - cowboy surrender (12 page)

“Jake, that’s not it. You can buy him a hat, but I don’t think our appearing in town together is a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“We’re just trying to convince Red and Mildred, not the entire community. You know how fast gossip spreads around town.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

B.J. crossed her arms and gave him an exasperated look.

“If you don’t want to go, fine. I’ll pick Toby up from school, and we’ll go without you,” Jake said, a stubborn look on his face.

“No, you’re not going without me,” she protested, unable to face remaining at home while Jake took Toby.

“Then let’s go.”

She did as he said, but she wasn’t happy about it. They had a silent ride into town.

Any tension was dispelled as soon as Toby saw them waiting. He broke into a run, his face beaming.

“Now, aren’t you glad we didn’t cancel?” Jake murmured.

B.J. shot him an irritated look, but he was right. She hated disappointing her son. She knelt for Toby’s hug and was surprised to discover Jake beside her. After Toby hugged her, Jake held out his arms.

“I should get a hug, too, shouldn’t I?”

Toby didn’t hesitate, but B.J. stood, her heart churning. Toby already had put Jake on a pedestal. How much was their pretense going to hurt her son?

“Mrs. Anderson?”

She turned to see Toby’s preschool teacher coming toward her. “Hello, Mrs. Bell. How are things going?”

“Just lovely. I wanted to be sure that Toby found you. He told me he was supposed to meet you and Jake today instead of taking the bus.”

Jake stood with Toby’s arms around his neck. “Mornin’, Loretta.”

“Mornin’, Jake. I see Toby found his hero. You’re all he’s talked about all morning.”

“Must’ve been a pretty dull morning, then,” Jake returned with a laugh.

B.J. sighed. Mrs. Bell was approaching retirement, but she could no more resist Jake Randall’s charm than any other woman. The teacher laughed and reached out to touch Jake’s arm. “You’ve been good for Toby. Now when the other boys talk about their daddies, he always mentions you.”

B.J. froze, dismay filling her. “You never mentioned a problem, Mrs. Bell.”

The woman’s gaze flew from Jake’s to hers. “Oh, there isn’t a problem, Mrs. Anderson. At least not one that you could help. Toby sometimes felt a little left out because he only has one parent. He’s not the only one with that problem.”

B.J. had known, once Toby started school, that he would feel the loss of his father. But she hadn’t planned on Jake being the substitute. “I hope you will remind him that Jake is a friend, not—not his father.”

Very gently, with a sympathetic smile, Mrs. Bell said, “Toby doesn’t get confused, Mrs. Anderson. He’s a very smart little boy.”

B.J. nodded and avoided Jake’s gaze. “Thank you for checking on Toby, Mrs. Bell. He’s enjoying your class very much.”

They said their goodbyes and got into Jake’s truck, Toby between them. Jake helped him fasten his seat belt before B.J. remembered. Her mind was too occupied with Toby’s teacher’s words.

“Quit worryin’,” Jake said softly over Toby’s head.

Her gaze met his, but she couldn’t respond. Not worry? About her only child and how she might be hurting him? Nothing could keep her from doing that.

“I told everyone about my birthday present,” Toby announced brightly. Then a shadow fell across his face. “But Larry said I shouldn’t tell. That it had to be a secret. Does it have to be a secret, Mr. Jake?”

“No, Toby. I’ll get you something else as a secret. Then—”

“No!” B.J. protested. “No, Jake, only one present. You’ll spoil Toby if you’re not careful.”

“Are you only going to buy him one present?” Jake challenged, squaring his jaw and staring at her.

“That has nothing to do with it. I’m his mother.” And Jake Randall wasn’t his father. She had to make that point, even if she didn’t say it out loud.

Instead of responding, Jake put the truck in gear and headed toward the main street of Rawhide. “Are you hungry, Toby?”

“Yeah! We had juice and cookies, but I dropped one of mine on the floor and it broke into little pieces. Mrs. Bell wouldn’t let me eat it.”

“Thank goodness,” B.J. said with a laugh, reaching over to push back his hair, which always flopped onto his forehead. “I think you’re about due for a haircut.”

“Hey, me too. How about we get our hair cut before we buy our hats, Toby?”

B.J. bit her bottom lip. Toby was still a little leery of barbershops. Until a few months ago, she or Mildred had usually trimmed his hair. But when Mr. Jake suggested something, Toby, it appeared, had no doubts.

She was going to have to get the man to recommend baths. Though she had to admit Toby had been amazingly compliant last night.

“Yeah, that’d be fun,” Toby agreed.

“Okay with you, Mom?” Jake asked, surprising her with the familiar term.

“Yes, of course, if Toby doesn’t mind.”

“That way our hats will fit better, right, Toby?”

“Right, Mr. Jake.”

Lunch was a revelation to B.J. All her admonitions to Toby about manners seldom had taken hold in his consciousness. But today, when Jake took his napkin and spread it across his lap, Toby immediately did the same. When Jake said thank-you to the waitress, Toby did also.

Of course, Jake’s words had the young woman blushing and batting her eyelashes. Toby’s earned him a pat on the head.

“So, what’ll you have, Toby?” Jake asked.

“What are you having?” Toby asked.

Jake looked over the top of the menu, sharing his amusement with B.J. She supposed, if her son was going to have a hero, Jake Randall wasn’t a bad choice. But she was worried about how far the hero worship would go. Even so, she smiled at Jake.

“I’m thinking of having a big, fat, juicy hamburger.”

“Me, too.”

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

“B.J.? You made up your mind yet?”

She turned her attention to the menu instead of the two males at the table and quickly made a decision. “Yes, I’ll have the chicken-salad sandwich.”

“Humph! Girl food,” Jake said with a teasing grin.

“Yeah, girl food,” Toby agreed.

This hero worship could get tiresome.

“I am a girl, after all,” she contended.

“The prettiest one I’ve ever seen,” Jake said, his grin widening.

“Yeah, you’re pretty, Mommy,” Toby seconded.

Maybe she could stand Toby agreeing with Jake after all.

The next stop was the barbershop. Al, who had cut Jake’s hair since he was a little boy, trimmed first his hair and then Toby’s, following Toby’s directions to cut his hair just like Mr. Jake’s.

B.J. sat along the wall, watching the three of them as they indulged in man talk, feeling a little excluded. It was a new experience for her. She and Mildred had formed Toby’s world for almost all his life. She wasn’t used to sharing him.

She thought again about what Mrs. Bell had said. She’d have to have a talk with Toby, make sure he understood that Jake was a friend.

Jake insisted on paying for Toby’s haircut. B.J. would’ve argued more, but she didn’t want to draw attention to Jake’s action. Looked as though she needed to have a talk with Jake, as well as Toby.

“All right, let’s go buy us a couple of hats, Toby my boy,” Jake said, grinning at first Toby and then B.J. He seemed to be enjoying his afternoon in town.

He grabbed Toby’s hand and then, to B.J.’s surprise, reached back for hers. “Come on, B.J. You’re not feeling left out, are you, ’cause you didn’t get a haircut?”

“No, I’ll get one later.”

He came to an abrupt halt. “You’re going to get your hair cut? I was just teasing. I don’t think—”

“Trimmed, Jake. I’m going to get my hair trimmed. I’m not going to cut it short, because it takes too much time to style a short hairstyle.”

Toby apparently felt left out, because he turned in front of Jake, still holding his hand. “I like Mommy’s hair. Sometimes she lets me brush it.”

“You’ve got good taste, Toby. Do you think she’d let me brush it?” His gaze left her son to stare at her hair.

“Jake!” she protested. Somehow the picture of Jake brushing her hair, feeling his hands slipping through the long strands, sensing his big, warm, hard body near hers, stirred her more than the compliments he’d paid her.

He grinned and leaned down for a quick kiss before she could protest. “And that doesn’t count for the one you tricked me out of,” he muttered as he started walking again, pulling her and Toby along with him to the store two doors down.

“Why not?”

“You know why. Here we are, Toby.” He held the door open for Toby and then her.

“Hey, Jake, haven’t seen you in a coon’s age,” Harvey Holmes greeted him. “And you brought along Miz Anderson and her boy. How you folks doing?”

Fortunately the store was almost empty, since B.J. figured no one would’ve missed Harvey’s booming voice.

Harvey showed them to the hats and left them alone to make their selections, promising to help if they had any questions.

“Aunt Mildred said the good guys always wear white hats,” Toby said, studying his choices.

“In the movies, they do, but that’s because they don’t have to worry about them looking clean.” Jake was studying the different colors and styles seriously.

B.J. saw one that looked Toby’s size and picked it up. The Resistol brand was a good one, she knew, but she had no idea how much the price would be. With a gasp, she put the hat back down. “Jake,” she whispered, moving closer to him.

“Yeah, honey?” he answered in a distracted fashion.

“Jake, these hats are too expensive.”

He gave her a surprised look. “I always buy Resistols.”

“It doesn’t matter what you buy. I’m talking about for Toby. They have some hats at the grocery store that will do just fine for him.” She turned to explain to her son, but Jake grabbed her arm.

“You buy him all the hats you want at the grocery store, but
I’m
buying him a Resistol. He needs to learn about quality. This hat’ll last him for years.” His jaw was squared again, a sure sign that he had the bit in his teeth.

“The hat will last, but Toby’ll outgrow it in a year.”

“Great. I’ll know what to get him next year,” he said calmly, and took a hat, quite similar to the one she’d flattened, off the wall and set it on his head. “What do you think, Toby?”

“That looks like your old hat,” the boy said, staring up at him, studying the hat from several different angles.

“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? I don’t change my mind much,” he admitted with another grin. “Which one do you like?”

Unerringly Toby selected a miniature version of the dark gray hat Jake was wearing. “I like this one.”

Jake led him over to a mirror and set the hat on the little boy’s head, squatting down beside him to compare the hats. “Hey, we look just alike, don’t we?”

Toby made an adjustment in the angle of his hat so it more correctly reflected Jake’s and sighed with pleasure. “Yeah, just alike. Right, Mommy?”

Their satisfaction with what they saw in the mirror would’ve been humorous if B.J. weren’t filled with worry. But she smiled at Toby, agreeing that he and Mr. Jake were almost twins.

In truth, they did look alike, even without the hats. They both had dark hair and a similar build. Her husband had been tall, even if he hadn’t shown the muscle Jake had. He’d been a law student when they met, spending his days indoors.

“You folks found what you need?” Harvey asked, approaching them again.

“I believe we have. Toby and I like these.”

“I’m not surprised. You’ve bought the same hat since you were a boy, Jake. Starting Toby off right, I see.”

“Yeah. And pretty soon I’ll be buying hats for the twins, too.” A satisfied smile crossed his lips.

“I’d better lay in some smaller sizes, the way the Randall clan is growing,” Harvey said with a laugh. The sly look he sent B.J.’s way wasn’t missed by Jake. He turned to her, too.

“How about you, B.J.?” he suddenly asked.

“What?” she asked, looking up from Toby, who was staring at himself and Jake in the mirror.

“You need a hat?”

“No, it’s not my birthday. That’s why Jake is buying Toby a present, Mr. Holmes. It’s his birthday.”

“Make it Harvey. We’re not formal here. So, it’s your birthday, young man?”

“In a few days. The twenty-seventh, the same day as Mr. Jake’s,” Toby said proudly, as if he’d planned his arrival on such an important day.

“Yeah, we’re twins,” Jake said with a wink to the store owner.

“I can see the resemblance,” Harvey agreed solemnly, putting an extra shine on Toby’s grin. “Come on over here, and I’ll ring you up.”

They were almost finished with their purchase, with B.J. reminding herself to discuss money with Jake, when the door opened, the bell above announcing a new arrival.

They all looked up, but Jake was the only one who recognized the man who arrived.

“Butch Gardner!” he exclaimed, and left the counter to greet the man with his hand out.

“Jake!” the man returned, pumping Jake’s hand with pleasure. The two men exchanged greetings and questioned each other about what had happened the past few years. It seemed Butch, who’d lived near Rawhide most of his early years, was returning to town.

After the first wave of words had passed, the man looked past Jake and saw B.J. and Toby waiting for him. Jake turned, too, and B.J. assumed he intended to introduce them, but before he could, Butch spoke.

“Jake, you old sneak. You’ve done gone and got yourself that son you always wanted! And a beautiful wife, to boot. Congratulations, man.”

There was a moment of silence when B.J.’s alarmed look met Jake’s. She didn’t want to look at Toby. She opened her mouth to correct the man, but Jake beat her to it.

“Sorry, Butch, but you’re wrong on both counts. Toby is B. J. Anderson’s son, and neither of them belongs to me.” Jake’s easy smile relieved some of Butch’s embarrassment.

“Sorry, ma’am. It’s an old habit of mine, leaping to conclusions. Hope I didn’t offend you.” He doffed his black hat as he apologized.

“No, of course not.” She put her hand on Toby’s shoulder. “Shall we wait for you out in the pickup, Jake?”