Julie sank into one of four folding chairs set up around a card table. She picked up a healthy portion of funnel cake and put it into her mouth. Manners said she couldn't talk with food in her mouth and she needed a few minutes to collect her thoughts. Did she really have to tell it all right now, or could part of it be sidestepped?
"Okay, confession time," she finally said when she couldn't escape it any longer.
"Let me go first," Luke said in a hoarse voice. "I love you unconditionally and figured you'd gotten tired of trying to get pregnant and went to a sperm bank without telling Derrick. I know what he said about adultery, but I never believed it."
Deborah narrowed her eyes at Julie. "Why would a married man donate to a sperm bank? There's no doubt that man is Annie's biological father. Did you know it when you moved here? And where does that little red haired boy come into the picture? He looks more like he could belong to you than your own child."
Julie slowly shook her head. "First, I didn't go to a sperm bank. I was divorced, although it wasn't final. Remember the weekend Sally and I went to Dallas, the week before Derrick came begging me to take him back?"
"No, I don't," Luke said.
"We went. I did a stupid thing and slept with a man I only met that night and got pregnant. I didn't know it when I went back with Derrick. I did not commit adultery. We were as good as divorced."
"You slept with a married man?" Deborah asked.
"No, I slept with Griffin's twin brother, Graham. And I had no idea the Luckadeaus were from Saint Jo or I would have treated this place like it had the plague. There's more." She told them that Graham had died in Iraq and about how the townspeople already knew about Graham being Annie's father.
"Out of the frying pan right into the fire," Deborah said.
"How does Griffin feel about this all?" Luke asked.
"We started out on the wrong foot but we're pretty decent friends now. It won't ever be anything more, so don't worry. We are good with both girls and with Chuck and the kids are inseparable. Lizzy loves me. Says she wants to be white trash just like me."
Luke's face flushed red. "Why would she say such a thing?"
"Griffin and I had this big fight and that's what he called me. Made me mad at first, but then, what would you call me if you were in his shoes? I slept with his brother. I moved to Saint Jo to a house that looks like crap right now. I haven't had time to paint and the first time he came to the place when Lizzy ran away, I screamed at him like a fishwife."
"What a mess," Deborah said.
"You got it," Julie said.
"What do you plan to do now?"
"Live right here. I own five acres. I like what I'm doing. I'm making a small profit on my business. Haven't had to touch Aunt Flossie's money yet except, of course, to buy the place, but the balance is still there. The canning business and my paycheck are supporting me and Annie for food and bills so far, and I'm even saving money."
"But everyone probably thinks that you…" Deborah couldn't force the words from her mouth.
"Are an adulteress? I'm sure some of them do, but I'm not running. We tried that and it didn't work. We'll just sit our ground and take our blows," Julie said.
The bell rang at the front of the store and Mamie asked the customer if she could help. Her friend's tone had a lilt to it that Julie recognized immediately as Mamie's flirting voice. Maybe California had arrived to buy out the stock.
"I hope so," a masculine voice said. "My mother and father were supposed to meet my sister, Julie Donavan, in this store. Have they been in? Do you know them?"
"Eli!" Julie screeched and shoved back the chair. The curtain waved in her wake as she ran into the store and into his arms. "This is such a wonderful surprise. How did you get here?"
Eli pushed her back and looked at her for a long minute. "By car, little sister. I might be a preacher but I can't sprout wings like an angel just yet."
Griffin poked his head in the door and turned two dark-haired tornadoes and one red-haired one loose. "They are all yours." He stopped midway in the process of shutting the door and stared at the man holding both of Julie's hands. Jealousy shot through him in a white hot flash. Had her ex-husband returned to beg for another chance?
"My brother, Eli," Julie explained. "This is Griffin Luckadeau. And this is Lizzy, Annie's new best friend. And this little red-haired fellow is Chuck, who is their friend, too. And they are all three my students in kindergarten."
Griffin exhaled slowly and extended his hand.
Eli was speechless but he shook hands with the man.
Deborah and Luke chose that minute to fan through the curtain.
"Shocking, isn't it?" Luke said.
"I'm off to take care of business," Griffin said. "Pick them up at what time?" No need for him to stick around and he did have business. A cup of coffee was calling to him from the King's Hotel lobby.
"When the day is finished. If they get too tired, I'll beg Mom and Dad for the key to their hotel room and put them down for a nap," Julie said.
Eli cocked his head to one side and then the other as he studied the little girls who were almost twins.
"Uncle Eli, you look funny," Annie said.
Eli regained enough composure to scoop up the child talking, hoping he was truly hugging his niece. "That's because you didn't hug me yet."
"Now hug Lizzy and Chuck," Annie said.
Eli stooped down on one knee and opened his arms. Annie pushed her friends toward him.
"It's all right, he's my uncle and he's a preacher," Annie announced.
Julie felt like a one-legged chicken at a coyote conven tion and sure didn't want to explain it all a second time in less than half an hour. She looked to Mamie for help, only to find her grinning like she'd just won the lottery.
"He's gorgeous," Mamie mouthed.
"Who?" Julie asked.
Mamie pointed discreetly toward Eli.
"Eli?" Julie checked out her brother. He hadn't changed. Same brown hair, light brown eyes with a few yellow flecks, round baby face like her father's, heavy beard that had been shaved very recently, under six feet tall and just slightly overweight.
Eli, gorgeous?
Mamie needed to put her contacts in or lay off the funnel cakes. All that sugar was affecting her vision for sure.
Lizzy and Chuck both hugged Eli and then the chil dren ran to look out the front window to make sure they weren't missing a single minute of the festival.
"Julie?" Eli stood up.
"I'd like you to meet my new friend, Mamie, who owns this store," Julie said.
Eli nodded toward Mamie. "Pleasure, ma'am."
"Okay, short version or long?" Julie said.
"I don't care which one but you'd better start talkin'. My brain is working overtime," he said.
Mamie giggled.
"For that little giggle, you get to tell him. I'm taking the kids for a stroll over to the hotel where I'll meet you in half an hour," Julie said to Mamie.
Mamie tugged at Eli's arm. "Come on back here and have a seat. I'll tell you how all this came about while you have some funnel cake and coffee."
Eli was glad to sit down. His head was spinning out of control and he couldn't grasp a single thought, much less make sense of it.
"We're going to follow Julie," Luke said. "Come on over to the King's Hotel when Mamie gets through and get ready for a shock."
"I've already got the shock. Now I want the story," Eli answered.
*********
Julie's heart had settled down to a slow steady beat by the time she walked across the square to the hotel. The lobby was reminiscent of a hotel right out of the last century with an ornate pool table sitting atop an off white and mauve rug that looked as though it had been designed after a patchwork quilt. The hardwood floors were as shiny as a freshly polished mirror. The bar had a brass footrest that had seen lots of cowboy boots. The walls were papered in stripes, and tables for four offered seating space. Comfortable leather chairs and a sofa begged for people to get cozy and have a visit.
It was in one of those chairs that Julie found Griffin. Damn his good-old-boy heart and all that surrounded it if he hadn't just lied to her. Said he had a meeting and rushed off to leave her holding the bag. Lizzy ran over to him and crawled up in his knee. Chuck claimed the other one, and Annie put her hand on his shoulder. Julie sank down into the chair next to him.
"So, you got any more family that's likely to tar and feather me this day?" he asked. In the few minutes he'd been sitting, everything had come clear. Julie moving to Saint Jo had been like the luck of the draw. She hadn't known about the Luckadeaus and she wasn't there to fleece him. Not one of her relatives had known about him or his family. He'd been wrong about that part, but it wasn't enough for him to truly let his feelings have free rein. Not by a long shot.
"Hey, I had to meet yours at the rodeo and they still haven't come back around. They put a big old 'A' on my chest, so don't be giving me a hard time," she said.
"It's not all
you
with my family. It's the fact that you are a schoolteacher. Beau was engaged to one before Milli came back into his life. That schoolteacher was ready to take him to the cleaners. Remember Rachel?" Griffin asked.
"I'd like to answer with a no, but yes, I remember her. She reminds me of Clarice," Julie said.
"She should. She's her granddaughter. Well, Amanda was the schoolteacher and she'd make Rachel look like a humble little housewife," Griffin said.
"Whew! No wonder they turned up their noses at me. Didn't you tell them we are only friends and that's using the term loosely?" Julie asked.
The look on his face said he hadn't told them anything but the bare bones of the story. Leave it to a man not to explain the way things really were. They said a few words and expected women to fill in the blanks. Only trouble with that was what they filled in the blanks with.
"You are a rat," she said.
Alvera turned around at the bar where she'd been drinking a beer. "Most men are bona fide rats, darlin'. But don't judge him too harsh, even if he did side with Clarice. At least he had the good sense to get rid of my great-niece. She's over in Nocona, flirtin' around a lawyer. Hell, by next summer, she'll have gold finger nails. This is a wonderful festival. The parade was right nice. Y'all did a bang up good job, didn't they, Griff?"
"I suppose they did, and I'm big enough to say that I was wrong," Griffin said.
"See there, he's a good boy. Don't throw his family in the Red River just yet. I'm going over to Ringgold this week to see a bull Nellie is thinkin' about sellin'. I'll put in a word with her and Ellen." Alvera patted Julie on the back as she left.
"Who in the… devil… are Nellie and Ellen?" Julie asked.
"Your Daddy don't like you to cuss, does he? I caught that almost 'hell' that was on the tip of your tongue. To answer your question, Nellie is Slade's grandmother. Ellen is her sister. They are wonderful old girls. You'd like them. They're just like Alvera," Griffin said.
"They aren't like Clarice, then, are they?"
Clarice came through the door. "Did I hear my name? Oh, it's you. I'd hoped you'd be gone by now. Griffin, honey, you'd best be callin' Rachel and apologizin' for hurtin' her. She's got a date with a lawyer over in Nocona. Looks like you might be losin' your footin' waitin' around like you are." She ignored Julie and poured on the charm for Griffin.
"Reckon I'm content to lose my footin', Clarice. I hope she's happy with the lawyer," Griffin said.
"You Luckadeau men! Ain't a one of you got a lick of horse sense," Clarice huffed her way to the bar and ordered a piña colada.
"Daddy, I'm hungry," Lizzy said.
"There's a taco stand on the square and a hamburger wagon, plus about anything else you could want. Shall we go find food? It's nice to see you, Clarice. We were wrong about the festival, weren't we?" Griffin said.
"No, we were not! Next thing you know this school teacher will be wantin' to have another one in February. Give 'em an inch and they'll want a mile. Good day, Griffin." Clarice didn't even look back.
Julie wrapped her fingers around Griffin's upper arm and squeezed. Her touch got his attention and he jerked his head up to look into her mossy green eyes.
Julie let go of his arm and said, "The kids are mine for the day, so you are not taking them to the vendors for lunch. You said so, and Annie is looking forward to spending the day with Lizzy and Chuck so her grandpar ents can get to know her friends, so suck it up and go on about your business."
Griffin nodded slowly. "Then I get Annie one day at the ranch. Lizzy's been asking and you always say no. The kids have been coming to your house every weekend and whining when they can't. So?"
Custody rights? Something she never thought she'd have to think about when Derrick flatly denied that Annie was his and divorced her. Annie was hers and hers alone. She hadn't even shed a tear when Derrick made his dramatic exit out of the hospital. But right then, she had to swallow hard to keep from crying at the idea of doing without Annie for a whole day.
"Please, Momma. Lizzy has a pony and I want to see it and she has a princess Barbie with dark hair and I want to go and she gets Chuck all the time," Annie pleaded.