"That's because fish sticks were the only food his momma bought for him. They're easy to make in the microwave and he ate them so much he threw them up." Griffin looked out into the night air.
"How'd you know that? And since you do know it, why are you upset about our girls feeding him?"
Griffin squirmed. "It's confidential, like I said. Lizzy and Annie are best friends. I don't want to hinder that and yet… oh, hell. I know and I'm not supposed to know and what I do is going to affect us."
"Spit it out, Griffin. What in the hell is going on?"
"I'm friends with the men on the police force. Tonight they are going to raid the Chesters' trailer. His father and mother are cooking meth in it as well as in their car and their shed. They're going to jail, probably for a very long time. Chuck is going to foster care."
"Oh, no!" Julie exhaled and forgot to suck in more air. Her lungs hurt before she remembered.
"There's three or four people in Saint Jo who run foster care homes. They're all full, but Marita and Carl have been foster care parents before, so they're licensed. What do you think of him living at the ranch?"
"You'd do that?" Julie asked.
He nodded. "I called Marita and she said she didn't want the full-time responsibility of a child but she wouldn't mind watching him with Lizzy. She'd be the actual foster parent but I'd be his caretaker, so to speak."
"I think it's wonderful."
Griffin propped an arm on the back of the truck. "Okay, here's the thing. When Lizzy comes to play at your house, which is most Saturday afternoons now, is Chuck going to be welcome to come along, too?"
"Of course, he is! They'll be delighted that their other friend can join them. I'd take him in myself but I'm not qualified. I'll keep him and Lizzy any time. Overnight. Anytime you want time," she said.
"Okay, then I'll make some calls. I just wanted to run this by you before I did. Lizzy hasn't ever been happier."
"Neither has Annie," she said.
"Well, then, good night," he said and paused.
The moment was pregnant with tension and for a moment his eyes went dreamy and half closed as if he were about to lean down and kiss her. She got ready for it, but he turned his head and started around the truck.
Damn, damn, damn, she swore silently. She'd been ready for his lips to touch hers and more than ready to give back as good as she got. Why did he stop right then? Folks talked about women being a tease; well, Griffin Luckadeau was one that night.
She slapped her leg as he drove away, inhaled several times to get the raw desire under control, and headed back into the Dairy Queen. Next time, by damn, she'd kiss him.
Chapter 8
THE GAZEBO IN THE CENTER OF SAINT JO'S TOWN SQUARE was decorated in red and green. Christmas music was broadcast over loudspeakers and the square was filled with vendors of every kind. People milled about buying food, sitting on the square in their lawn chairs, or getting their Christmas shopping done in advance. There was a chill in the morning air, but nothing that a light jacket wouldn't take care of. Deborah and Luke Donavan looked at mirror art, carved wooden items, and so many other things that Deborah could scarcely remember them all.
"Ribbons for her hair," she finally said. "That's what I'll buy today. Ribbons and fancy things for Annie's hair. Red and green ones, so she'll have them for the Christmas play at church."
Luke pulled out his wallet to pay for her purchases. "You've missed them terribly haven't you?"
"Yes, I have. I wonder when they'll get here?" She was as excited as a little child on Christmas morning. Watching Julie take Annie to the car that last day was almost more than she could endure. If it hadn't been for the trip to the holy land to look forward to and plan, she was sure she would have lost her mind.
"Any time. It's five minutes until ten now and Julie said they'd meet us in Molly's at ten. You don't think we hurt her feelings by staying in the hotel, do you?"
"She remembers how loud you snore," Deborah said. "Besides, it was an experience I wouldn't have missed. Who would have thought there'd be such a quaint little hotel right here on this square? There's Annie! Oh, look at her, Luke. She's grown so much." Deborah was almost giddy. She'd never gone three months without seeing her daughter or her granddaughter before. She opened up her arms and started toward Annie.
She grasped her heart. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Do something, Luke. Call the police. Do something."
Luke shoved his wallet back in his pocket and grabbed her. "Deborah, are you all right?"
Deborah was as pale as yesterday's ashes and pointing across the square. "Call the police. That man in the baseball hat just grabbed Annie from behind and put her in his truck with a little red-haired boy. Look, they're driving away now. That man just kidnapped our granddaughter."
"Grammy, Grammy, over here," Annie's voice yelled from behind her.
The little dark-haired girl barreled into her grand father's arms and reached for her grandmother to join them in a three-way hug. Julie stood back for a moment before entering in on the embrace.
"But, but…" Deborah kept saying.
"Is there another little girl with a white streak living here?" Luke asked.
"That's Lizzy. She and Chuck is my bestest friends ever and Chuck gets to live with Lizzy now so he can come to my house and play with us," Annie said.
"Your mother was in a panic. She saw that little girl from behind and saw that white streak. She thought you'd been kidnapped," Luke said.
"It happens," Julie said. She wasn't ready to have this conversation with her parents, not by a long shot. She'd planned on telling them on a need-to-know basis, not hit them with the whole thing the moment she saw them. "How was the hotel? Did the other guests complain about Dad's snoring?"
Deborah laughed nervously. "Not yet. I really was scared, Julie. My heart almost stopped. Who would have ever thought there was another child with a streak in her hair in a town this small?"
"Strange, ain't it?" Julie said.
"Ain't? And you a schoolteacher?" Luke teased.
"Yes, I am, but I'm also a businesswoman. My five acres has a garden and an orchard. Come over to Molly's and see my wares. Sometime this afternoon we'll drive out to the place so you can see it." Julie looped her arm through her mother's and led the way to the little store painted bright yellow on the east side of the square.
Bells jingled when they walked through the door and Mamie came out from behind the counter with a big smile on her face. In keeping with the holiday spirit, she wore a red and white furry Santa hat with a big jingle bell on the point.
The store was small but organized. Shelves lined three walls and offered gifts and gadgets arranged neatly with Julie's canned goods interspersed between everything. The cash register sat on an antique glass-front counter that displayed costume jewelry, watches, and other small items.
"You must be Julie's mother. She looks exactly like you except for the red hair," Mamie said.
"And this is my Poppa and he's my momma's daddy and did you see Lizzy this morning? I want them to meet her," Annie said.
"Yes, I did and she'll be back real soon," Mamie said.
"Momma, this is Mamie, and Mamie, this is my mother, Deborah, and my father, Luke," Julie made the introductions. She dreaded telling her parents about Lizzy, but even more so about Griffin. Explaining Graham would be easier by far. It was a flash in the pan. Griffin was much, much more complicated. More like a slow-burning ember in a fireplace.
Hands were shook. Pleasantries exchanged.
Mamie raised an eyebrow but Julie pretended she didn't notice. She was more nervous than a Yankee in a Rebel outhouse during the war.
Deborah picked up one item and then another. "I love your store. It's exactly what I want someday when Luke retires. Just a little something to keep us from sitting down and going to rot," she said.
"Want to buy it?" Mamie asked.
"Is it for sale?"
"Could be."
Deborah looked at the store with a critical eye, moving from floor to ceiling, thinking about how she would add a few boughs of greenery here and red velvet bows over there. "We might talk about it in a couple of years when Luke retires."
"There's a stairway in the supply room. Goes up to a three-room apartment. We haven't used it in years. Never in my lifetime, but story has it that my grandmother and grandfather lived up there when they first married and this was Granny Molly's sewing shop," Mamie said.
Julie was glad her mother had gotten away from the shock of seeing another child with a white streak in her hair. She held up a jar of dilled beans.
"Momma, take a look at my new business," she said.
Griffin pushed open the door and joined the conver sation. "Her squash relish brought in a hefty amount at the fireman's auction last week."
Julie was exceptionally pretty that day in her jeans and light jacket, but then she'd look good in anything—or nothing. He rather liked the nothing idea better than the anything idea and let his eyes undress her.
She felt his gaze and turned to find his eyes all dreamy and sexy like they'd been that night at the Dairy Queen. Right there in front of her parents, instead of a place where she could return the favor. She looked away at the same time she heard her mother gasp.
When Deborah sucked in air, Luke looked up and did the same. Annie wiggled until her grandfather set her down.
Mamie grinned and for that Julie could have shot her—BFF's didn't grin when the other BFF was in boiling hot water.
Annie grabbed Lizzy's hand and pulled her toward Deborah and Luke. "Lizzy, come and see my Grammy and Poppa. You come on too, Chuck."
Both children took a step forward away from Griffin. Chuck had a new pair of wire-rimmed glasses that fit his face much better than the old black plastic frames had and was wearing starched jeans, a clean T-shirt, and a good warm coat. Lizzy was in jeans with jewel trim on the pockets and pink sneakers. She carried her coat because, according to her, it wasn't cold enough to wear it.
Tension filled the room as each person tried to process the scenario.
"Did someone toot?" Lizzy asked.
"Lizzy!" Griffin said.
"Well, everyone had a funny look on their face like this." She sucked air noisily into her nostrils and held her breath. "And I wondered if someone tooted."
Annie cocked her head to one side, the exact same way that Griffin did at that very moment. "I don't smell anything. I think it's that candle Mamie is burning. It smells funny."
Chuck sniffed the air. "Smells good to me. Like gingerbread."
Mamie saved the day when she starting introducing everyone. "Griffin, honey, meet Julie's mom and dad. They drove over from Jefferson for the festival. This is Deborah and Luke Donavan and this is Griffin Luckadeau."
Luke extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you."
Luke was still speechless but determined he'd give the man the benefit of the doubt. Griffin's handshake was firm. He was clean and a cowboy. It could be the Lord's strange way of working, bringing his daughter together with the sperm donor that produced his grandchild.
"And that imp is Lizzy, Griffin's daughter, and the boy is Chuck Chester. He lives with Griffin and Lizzy," Mamie continued.
Luke jerked his hand back. What in the devil was a married man doing donating to a sperm bank?
"I can see where Julie gets her looks, Mrs. Donavan. She's the image of you except for that red hair," Griffin said in a slow drawl. It was evident that Julie's parents had already put two and two together and come up with the magic answer—the wrong one, but he didn't owe anyone an explanation about anything. That was Julie's job.
"Got that from her great-grandmother Donavan, my husband's grandmother," Deborah said nervously. She didn't wring her hands but she sure wanted to. Griffin Luckadeau had fathered those two little girls and yet he had to be married to have a child. Julie had a lot of explaining to do and it wouldn't wait until later.
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Julie?"
Mamie poked her in the ribs and whispered barely loud enough that she could hear, "Time to face the music."
Julie poked back. "Some BFF you are."
"Hey kids, how about I take you outside to the vendors and let you look around?" Griffin offered. He'd give her that much but nothing more. She could do the explaining. He would have to do the same when his parents found out about Annie.
"Good boy versus evil twin," Mamie whispered again.
"But—" Deborah started.
"Ten minutes, Griffin. Then I'll watch them the rest of the day," Julie said. She was nervous as a worm in hot ashes but not too jittery to notice how striking he looked that day or how good he smelled after a fresh morning shave.
"Hey, that's a deal I can't refuse. Marita is watching a stand for her daughter, who is up from San Antonio, and the kids were going to have to stay with her a while. I'm sure they'd rather be with Annie. Be back in ten minutes. So much for me not getting involved in all this hoorah, huh? How about a snow cone, kids?"
That set up squeals of joy. They joined hands and tried to get out of the store all at the same time, with Griffin right behind them.
Mamie raised a curtain and motioned them through it. "I've got a pot of coffee and some funnel cakes in the back room. Go on back there and help yourself."