Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (21 page)

One Month Later

She didn't run.
 

For that one thing,
Jacob Stone had to give Harmony credit.  

She hadn’t run from
him.

But she wasn't
always entirely sure that she shouldn’t have her sneakers at the ready to lead
him out for a quick jog around the relationship block.  Especially since he
couldn’t manage to quit laughing at her.  If looks could kill, he’d be burning
in a fiery hell.

“Heaven Leigh? 
Seriously, babe?” he choked, wiping tears of mirth from the corner of his eye. 
“You gotta admit it’s a
little
funny.  Heaven Leigh,” he repeated. 
“Heavenly.  How have I not heard your middle name by now, munchkin?” he asked,
tugging the little girl’s pigtail playfully.

“I told her when
that baby was born that Heaven Leigh would sound like a stripper name,” Harmony
heard her Aunt Orla say to no one in particular.  “But did she listen to me? 
No.  She did not,” the elderly woman clucked, shaking her white head from side
to side.

“Shut.  Up.  You
are not helping this situation, Jacob.  You either, Aunt Orla,” Harmony growled
out the corner of her mouth as she stared down at her feisty four-year-old.

“Ahhhh, you tolded
Mistah Jake to shut up, Momma!  That not nice.  Jesus hears you,” Heaven
chastised her mother as she swayed from side to side in a pink taffeta dress
outside the brick church where they’d just attended Sunday services together.  “What’s
a stripper?” she asked with the innocence only a child could muster.

“Ask your Uncle
Abel,” Patience replied with a hate-filled look in Abel Turner’s direction. 
“He’s had enough experience with ‘em.”

Ignoring her child’s
curious question, Harmony took a deep breath and focused on the matter at hand. 
It wouldn’t do for the other parishioners to watch her use her child’s head as
a basketball in the middle of the Paradise Baptist Church’s parking lot, she
reminded herself sternly.  Honor would frown on drawing attention to them.  A
quick glance at her youngest sister confirmed that she, however, was amused by
her current parenting dilemma.  “What possessed you, Heaven Leigh?” Harmony
asked, steadfastly ignoring Jake when he laughed again at her child’s full
name.  “Why in the
world
would you change dresses with Harper Ann in the
bathroom?  I sent you to go potty, not for a runway change,” she groaned,
staring at the pink concoction that her daughter had walked out of the church wearing
five minutes ago.  “And where
is
Harper?” she asked, looking around for
the little girl that attended Sunday School class with her daughter.  “I need
to apologize to her mother.”

“They already gone,
Momma,” Heaven replied, playing with the folds of her ‘new’ dress.

“Great.  Just
great,” Harmony muttered, running a hand down her face as she stared at her
precocious daughter.  “Why, baby?  What made you change dresses?”

“Dis dress is pink,
Momma,” Heaven explained, twirling in a circle before stopping in front of
Harmony and Jake.  “Pink
is
my signature color!”

Jake’s laughter
drowned out Harmony’s moan as she turned to level her assembled sisters with a
glare that could have eaten the paint off the walls.  “Which one of you?” she
asked the women.

“Which one, what?”
Faith asked, blinking innocently from the safety of her husband, Cain’s, arms.

Propping her hands
on the hips of her navy pencil skirt, Harmony narrowed her gaze.  “Which one of
you watched
Steel Magnolias
again with my daughter?  I know I was clear
when I put it on the banned movie list after she managed to convince Abel to
light firecrackers last month just so she could see if the neighbor’s dog’s
hair fell out!”

“That’s simply an
awful, terrible,
wretched
accusation to make, Harmony,” Honor chided,
her lips twitching as she tried not to giggle.

“Thank you so much,
Claree,” she grumbled sarcastically.  Claree had always been Honor’s favorite
character in that stupid movie; she shouldn’t be surprised that the woman was quoting
her now.  Sighing, Harmony recognized her sisters were hopeless, and she was
the only sane person left on the planet.  Blocking out her laughing family, she
turned back to address the problem with her daughter.  Kneeling in front of her
little girl, she met her baby’s eyes.  “As soon as we get home, you’re taking
that dress off, young lady.  It doesn’t belong to you; I don’t care if it is
your
signature
color.  Then, we are calling Harper’s mama and you are
going to apologize.”

“Yes, Momma,”
Heaven agreed with a long-suffering sigh of her own before turning toward her
Aunt Patience.  “You was right, Auntie Patience.  Momma is
such
a
M’Lynn.”

Shocked, Harmony
turned toward her guilty sister and gaped.  “You, too, Patience?”

Shrugging, Patience
smiled.  “The kid begged me.  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for a sad face.”

“As evidenced by
the dates you’ve had on your arm lately,” Abel Turner muttered under his breath
as he joined the group.    

Turning to glare at
Abel, Patience’s eyes flashed.  “Eat shit and die, Abel,” she bit out sharply.

“We’re at church,
Patience!  Watch your mouth,” Honor hissed, shooting her sister a blistering look
of condemnation. 

“We’re in the
parking lot; it doesn’t count,” Cain assured Honor gently, patting her shoulder.

“Ohhhh!  Dat sounds
just like Miss Ouiser!” Heaven giggled, bouncing up and down as she pointed
toward Patience.

“Yep,” Abel said
eagerly, “And half of Paradise County would love to take a shot at….”

“Abel, do not
finish that thought!” Honor ordered as she snagged Patience’s arm when her
sister started toward the grinning man with blood in her angry eyes.

Holding up one
hand, Zeke chuckled.  “As entertaining as this familial dispute is, we should
all get movin’ before I end up needing to arrest somebody for disturbing the
peace”  Glancing toward the man standing behind Harmony, he asked, “We still
meeting up at your new place, Jacob?”

Nodding, Jake bent
to hoist Heaven into his arms.  “If you guys can spare the time, I’d appreciate
it.  I’ll throw some burgers on the grill and the ladies can visit while we
work.  That carpet won’t put itself down despite my hope that it would,” he
admitted with a grin.

“I’m in,” Cain
agreed easily, tightening his arm around his wife and brushing a kiss against
her cheek.

“Happy to help,”
Zeke agreed, his voice low as he offered Jake a slight nod while keeping one
eye on Honor
onorH
.

“Will there be
beer?” Abel asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jacob chuckled as
he nodded. “I think I can spare a longneck or two.”

“Then I’m there,”
Abel agreed with an affable grin, ignoring Patience’s unhappy groan as his
father, Seth Turner, slapped the back of his head.

“You don’t need
spirits on the Lord’s day,” Cain and Abel’s elderly father grumbled. 

“If the Lord
expects me to hang with Satan’s sister over there,” Abel returned, gesturing at
Patience, “I’m gonna need a beer, Dad.”

“Forty five minutes
give everybody enough time to change and get to the house?” Jake asked, cutting
off whatever scathing retort Patience would have made as he shifted Heaven on
his hip and tickled her belly.

A chorus of
confirmations echoed through the parking lot.  The McKinnon clan was nothing if
not a cooperative bunch.

“I get to pway on
my new swingset!” Heaven yelled, swinging her legs happily as Jake started
toward his truck.

Harmony sighed as
she watched her new boyfriend carry her daughter toward his vehicle.  Despite
her objections, one of the first improvements Jake had made to his property was
a huge wooden swingset for his backyard.  She’d cringed at the amount of money
he’d spent on it, considering she had no idea where their relationship was
headed, but he’d merely shot her a dirty look and done what he wanted.  He was
happy, and so was Heaven, so she supposed her worries were pointless.  Thanks
to the unseasonably warm winter they were experiencing, she and Heaven had
spent many evenings with her playing outside while Jake worked on the interior
of his house.

“I’ll drop you off,
Harmony, and then me and the Princess will hit up the grocery store,” Jake
called over his shoulder as he opened the door of his truck with one hand while
he held a wriggling Heaven cradled against him with the other. 

“No!” Harmony and
Honor exclaimed almost simultaneously as Jake’s head disappeared into the truck
to deposit Heaven in the carseat he’d purchased for her.  She and her sister
exchanged equally alarmed looks as Jake slowly withdrew from the vehicle and
turned to face them. 

Propping his hands
on his hips, he faced the pair of women.  “What’s the problem with me taking
Heaven to the grocery store?  I’ve done it before without incident.  The kid
and I get along great,” he informed them, mildly defensive that they seemed to
suddenly question his ability to handle a four-year-old child.

“Oh, we know just
how well you get along with Heaven, Jake,” Harmony smirked, shaking her head. 
“You buy her anything she wants.”

“I do not,” Jake
retorted, shooting her a frown. 

“We sent you to the
store for milk last week, Jacob,” Honor reminded him in a kind voice.  “Do you
remember that little errand you ran for Harmony and me?”

“Of course, I
remember,” Jake mumbled as a dark flush began to spread across his cheeks.  “It
was just a couple days ago.”

“Uh huh,” Harmony
hummed.  “And how much did that milk cost you, Jake?” she asked, lifting her
eyebrows expectantly as she stared at the now uncomfortable looking man. 

“What’s she talking
about?” Patience asked, looking from an amused Harmony to where Jacob shifted
guiltily beside the truck. 

“Well, when Jake
and Heaven went to the store for a gallon of milk, they both managed to get
distracted by the sheer amount of choices our local Piggly Wiggly had to
offer.  They came home with seven boxes of the most sugary cereal on the
market, four different kinds of cookies, three gallons of ice cream, two cases
of Coca cola, and enough potato chips to feed the entire congregation of this
church for the next month.  He spent over a hundred dollars on junk food, and
Honor and I
still
haven’t managed to find cabinet space for everything,”
Harmony explained to her sister.

“You neglected to
mention that they also forgot to get our milk on their supermarket adventure,”
Honor interjected, shooting a sweet smile toward Jake.

“Okay, you’ve both
made your point.  Me and the peanut will wait in the truck while
you
go
into the store,” Jake growled, glaring at Harmony.  “Will that make you happy?”

“Enormously, but
I’ve got a better idea.” Harmony replied, trying not to laugh in his irritated
face.  He really was cute when he was trying to intimidate her with his growly
face.  It never worked on her.  She might not have learned much about Jacob
Stone in the last month, but one of the few things she had managed to figure
out was that where she and Heaven were concerned, Jake would never actually be
mean to them.  In truth, either of them only had to mention something in
passing, and suddenly, it appeared.  Whether it was a comment Heaven made about
a new movie she wanted to see or Harmony happening to mention that her car
needed an oil change, Jake listened… and then he made it happen.  She’d learned
quickly to be very careful about what she said around him.  “I’ll just ride
with Honor and Zeke, and we’ll go to the store.  You can go ahead and get your
grill fired up and we’ll meet you at your house.”

“Fine,” Jake
muttered with a sigh.

Stepping forward to
address her child, Harmony grinned at her daughter.  “Okay, you’re going with
Jake to his house and I’ll meet you there.  You’re clothes are in your bag,”
she said, pointing at Heaven’s Care Bear backpack.  “You change out of that
dress and into your play clothes as soon as you get there, understand?  Mind
your manners until I get there, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am,”
Heaven chirped, nodding her little head avidly.

“Good girl.”
Harmony winked at her daughter before Jake closed the door.  Looking up at him,
she brushed a cheek against his jaw.  “We won’t be long,” she murmured.  “You
sure you’re okay with her?”

She laughed when
Jake just gave her a look.  And honestly, it was a stupid question.  Heaven and
Jake had grown as thick as thieves during the past month.  More often than not,
their dates had included Heaven.  Not all of them, but enough that she knew
Jake didn’t mind spending time with her daughter. 

“Hey, you’re
forgetting something,” Jake said, catching her wrist when she would have turned
to walk toward Zeke’s SUV while his other hand went to his wallet.   

Harmony nearly
growled aloud when he pressed money into her hand.  “Jake, I’ll pay for…” she
began to argue.  This was becoming an old argument between them.  The man
refused to allow her to pay for anything when they were together.  It didn’t
matter if they were out to eat or going to a movie.  He demanded to pay her
way, and Heaven’s, too, if her daughter was with them.