Lizzy's chin quivered and she hugged Julie so tightly that she practically squeezed the air from her. "I won't never say nothing again, please don't move, Julie. And Ellen did too say something. She asked me and Annie if we didn't want one of them babies at our house."
"Aha," Julie exclaimed. "The plot thickens."
"Pro?" Griffin looked at her.
"She's trying to protect her twenty-five dollars," Julie whispered.
"Old vixen," Griffin grinned.
"Go play, girls. We'll be leaving in a little while but we'll come back for the party tomorrow night," Griffin said. "I bet you get to play with Ellie so much you get tired of babies."
"Not me," Annie said.
"Not me," Lizzy echoed and ran back to the blanket on the ground under the shade tree where Ellie was propped up with pillows.
"Momma, I need to talk to you," Annie whispered.
Julie dropped down on her knees. "What is it?"
"We aren't moving, are we? I don't ever want to move. I'd be so sad if we didn't live with Lizzy and Chuck would cry, only boys aren't supposed to cry and he'd do it at night so you couldn't hear and we just can't move."
Griffin gathered Annie up in his arms and hugged her tightly to his chest. "Don't you worry, honey. We couldn't live without you at the ranch. You are part of it. So go play and don't think about it."
She kissed him on the cheek and joined Lizzy.
"Why'd you say that?" Julie asked.
"Because I don't want her to think she caused you to move out with her wanting a baby in the house. She's just a little girl. She shouldn't have to worry about adult things at the age of five."
"But we might move out and you just promised that we wouldn't," Julie said.
"No, I said we couldn't live without her at the ranch," Griffin said.
"You know how she took it," Julie said. "I don't ever lie to her."
"You accusing me of lying? Lizzy and I would have a hard time living without her now that we've had her. You telling me that you could separate them and live without Lizzy? If you are, then you've damned sure got me fooled."
"That's not what I'm saying," she bristled.
"How's my investment over there?" Milli yelled.
"Looking like a pro situation to me," Julie said.
"Ah, don't be calling the war won over one little fight," Ellen yelled.
"You want to tell me about this bet?" Griffin frowned.
"Darlin' your fragile little ego couldn't take it." She put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
He frowned. "I'm going back to the sale barn. You coming with me?"
"Think I'll stay here for a while. Kiss me on the forehead so they'll think we've made up," she said.
"I can do a damn sight better than that," he said. He wrapped her up in his arms and laid one on her that made all the women swoon.
She joined the circle of women, pulling up a chair and sitting down not far from where Lizzy and Annie entertained Ellie. Her lips felt bee-stung and her face was crimson as she thought about other kisses and where they'd led. From there her mind went to what happened when she'd let desire have its way before. She'd had a baby girl.
She realized she hadn't used birth control when she'd had sex with Griffin. Hadn't had any need for it in six years, so it slipped her mind completely. She felt all the blood leave her face. Now wasn't that the most immature act she'd ever pulled? She could blame the night with Graham on too much to drink. Both times with Griffin she'd been stone cold sober.
In my defense,
she thought,
I quit using anything
years ago when Derrick and I decided to have a child.
Or rather when I decided we were having one. Looking
back I don't think he cared one way or the other and
probably was a good thing since it was his fault we
didn't have one. I was all pumped up on fertility drugs
when I got pregnant with Annie. It's a wonder she
wasn't three or four or even six little dark-haired kids
with white streaks in their hair. Now wouldn't it have
been a royal hoot if I had had more than one and some
were boys, blessed with the Luckadeau blond hair and
blue eyes? In the same nursery with black-haired girls.
That would have created a stir, now wouldn't it?
"Whatever are you thinking about?" Milli asked.
"Nothing," Julie said.
"I bet it has something to do with whatever happened in those nine minutes they were in the barn," Ellen said.
"Actually it had to do with a very different nine minutes," Julie admitted.
"Want to tell us about it?" Ellen asked.
"No, I want you to tell me about why you don't drive anymore. Griffin said it's a good story," Julie said.
"Ahh, honey, that's a good tale. Sit back and let me tell you about the time I bought a bottle of Jack Daniels and met a man with a Corvette that had enough get up and go to do a hundred miles an hour—the car, not the man. He was older than me and couldn't go but about seventy-five miles an hour."
Chapter 19
THE NIGHT AIR WAS PLEASANT. THE BAND HAD ALREADY geared up. Through the open barn doors Julie could see people lined up at a buffet table. Slade's sale party was a lot more casual than the one they'd thrown at the Lucky Clover and Julie liked it much better. From the way everyone in the barn was dressed, she was surely glad she'd visited with Jane before she got dressed for the evening and she was already planning what their sale would be like the next year.
At least she was planning until she realized what she was doing and brought herself up short. By the next year she'd be in her own place and the Luckadeau women would take care of the sale. She might be invited but then again, if Melinda had her way, maybe not.
Griffin wore a pale blue western shirt, starched and creased Wranglers, a tooled belt with a big silver rodeo buckle, and his dress cowboy boots. His hair was a touch too long, but Julie loved it like that. The white streak flowed back and reminded her of Johnny Depp's in
Sweeney Todd.
Julie had made a dash through Cavender's in Nocona and picked up a pair of boots, a western-cut blouse in lime green, and a new pair of Cruel Girl jeans. Her red curls framed her face and her mossy green eyes sparkled. Griffin thought she was elegant in the red dress at their sale party but that night he fairly well strutted into the barn with her on his arm.
Granny Nellie and Ellen were the first to greet them. Ellen wore her bright red dyed hair up in a twist with lots of height and hair spray and a swirling skirt in bright colors with a western ruffled blouse tucked into it. Nellie wore jeans and a bright red blouse and boots.
The atmosphere felt like a barn dance instead of a sultan's tent in the desert. Buffet tables were set up with fried chicken, steaks, baked potatoes, and so many side dishes and desserts Julie couldn't begin to count them.
"It's lookin' good. I changed my bet to con. You won't make it until summer," Ellen told Julie.
"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched and don't believe everything you see," Nellie said.
"What?" Griffin asked.
"It's a girl thing but I'm thinkin' us old girls might have met our match," Nellie said.
"Are you talkin' about Julie?"
"Well, darlin', she ain't talkin' about you," Ellen said.
Nellie changed the subject. "The sale made even more than what Slade was hoping for, so we're all happy tonight."
"You two go get in line and eat. And Julie, you better keep him real close tonight. There's lots of pretty women here who'd like to touch that white streak and see if it's as soft as it looks or else touch something else on his body. He's a fine lookin' cowboy," Ellen said.
"Yes, ma'am," Julie winked.
"Want to tell me what that was all about?" Griffin asked.
They lined up behind Jane and Slade.
"Nope. I'm hungry."
"Me too and I'm not even mad," Jane said.
"Thank God. We'd have to tell the caterers to put another steer on the spit if this girl was angry," Slade said.
Jane blew a kiss toward him. "He's telling the gospel according to Jane Luckadeau. When I get mad I get hungry. First time he took me out to eat, he found out about that."
"Oh?" Julie asked.
"She'd just decked the lady I'd been dating," Slade said.
"Must be the curse of the Luckadeaus, whether we have blond or black hair," Griffin said.
"You hit his girlfriend?" Jane asked Julie.
"No, but I wanted to wipe up the highway with that bitch. She spanked Lizzy for not wanting to eat carrots. I still get mad when I think about it. What were you thinking, Griffin, dating a witch like that?" Julie asked.
Griffin threw both hands up, palm first. "Hey, I sent her packing when I found out, didn't I?"
"You should have done more than that. Call the caterers and tell them to bring out more fried chicken, Slade. Just thinking about someone hitting Lizzy makes me angry," Jane said.
Slade rolled his eyes toward the rafters. "She's got a special place in her heart for Lizzy. They made fast friends the first time Slade brought her to the ranch. She actually wanted Ellie to be born with black hair with a white streak. I told her she'd done latched onto the wrong Luckadeau for that."
Griffin's angular cheeks filled with color. At one time he had thought maybe he'd talk to Slade about dating Jane since she'd been so good to Lizzy, but by the time he got up the nerve, it was too late. It was already evident by then that Slade would be the Luckadeau who wound up with Jane.
Slade and Jane piled their plates high and disap peared into the crowd looking for a place to sit at one of the eight-foot tables covered with red and white checkered oil cloth. When Griffin and Julie had filled their plates, Mamie motioned them over to the table she and Eli shared. When they sat down Julie wasn't a bit surprised to see Milli and Beau and Jane and Slade at the same table.
"You should have gotten the T-bone," Jane told Julie.
"I thought you were having chicken," Julie said.
She cut a bite-sized piece of medium rare steak. She forked it and held it across the table toward Julie. "Here, taste this. Isn't it the best Angus you've ever eaten?"
Julie opened her mouth.
"Don't you dare say yes," Griffin said.
"The best Angus you ever put in your mouth better be from the Lucky Clover," Mamie whispered.
"Second best," Julie said after she'd swallowed.
"Almost had her, Griff," Jane laughed.
Amongst the men, talk went to the sale and Eli listened, amongst the women, to the upcoming wedding and Julie listened.
"So is the wedding dress a big ball gown with layers of fluff?" Jane asked.
"Hell, no," Mamie said. "I'm not blind, girls. When I step in front of the mirror I don't see a size five. I'm a healthy sixteen and this little chubby girl would look a sight in that much fluff. I'm thinking a long brocade skirt with a matching jacket," she said.
"With red roses?" Jane asked.
"And hearts everywhere," she said.
"What is Julie wearing?" Milli asked.
Julie hadn't even thought about her dress in the ceremony. "Me?"
"She's wearing the red dress she wore to the winter sale and she's carrying a bouquet of roses with white ribbons and pearls dangling from it. And while we're at it, would you two please serve the cakes?"
"Be glad to," Milli said.
Jane nodded and reached across the table to steal a chicken wing from Julie's plate.
"Be careful. We might've grown that chicken on the Lucky Clover," Julie teased.
"Best chicken I've had tonight," Jane said. "Am I going to win?"
Mamie's eyes lit up. "Win what? Are we bettin?"
Jane leaned forward and whispered in Mamie's ear.
"Put me in for twenty-five. Pro," Mamie said.
"You're going to be a preacher's wife and you are gambling?" Julie exclaimed.
"Which reminds me, I think it's time for us to carry on the tradition, since there's enough of us now?" Jane asked.
"What tradition?" Milli asked.
Mamie raised her hand like a grade school girl. "I know. I know. Bridge night. And I'm all for it."
"Bridge night?" Milli asked.
"Once a month on a certain evening we leave the kids with the husbands and meet somewhere for a girl's night out. Play a little bridge. Eat some chips and cookies. Drink a few… Dr. Peppers," Jane said.
"I'm the one with a store that has a back room so I'm offering for the place. How about the third Thursday of each month? Julie and Jane bring the cookies the first time," Mamie said.
"Bridge?" Julie snarled.
"Ellen's bridge. I think you and I both made the comment we were going to grow up to be just like her," Jane said.
Mamie cupped her hand over Julie's ear and whis pered, "Poker night."
Julie's eyes sparkled. "For real?"
"Absolutely. Bring your purse, darlin'," Jane said.
Griffin caught the tail end of the women's conversa tion during a lull in the men's. "For what? Why would she bring her purse to something?"
"Don't ask. It's got something to do with a lady's night out they are planning once a month," Eli said.