Tina Leonard - A Callahan Outlaw's Twins (18 page)

“I gave myself a scare,” Fiona said. “Goodness, what a nasty man.”

“Whatever were you thinking, sneaking off like that?” Kendall demanded. Relief flooded her, making her ask the very question she figured was the worst to ask at this moment.

Fiona sighed. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s go upstairs and get Burke a toddy. I think he needs one.”

Kendall followed Fiona, turning off the light and closing the door to the basement behind them. Sloan stood over someone who lay in a heap on the floor.

She flipped on a light. “Who is it?”

“A woman.” Sloan looked at her. “Who hit her?”

“I did,” Kendall said. She stepped close to look at the woman on the ground, who was still out cold. “I know her. She’s one of Wolf’s gang.”

“A merc.”

Falcon burst in the door, halting as he saw the unconscious woman. “Oh, man, we don’t hit women, Sloan.”

“I know that!” Sloan glared at his brother. “Kendall gave her a small headache. She’ll be fine in a few.”

Falcon looked at Kendall. “You’re coming along nicely.”

“Sloan,” Kendall said, “I can’t find Ashlyn. I can’t find the babies.”

“We’re up here,” Ash said, her voice floating down from upstairs. “I brought the twins here once the text went around that Fiona and Burke were missing. Figured being in the main house was safest because of the attic.” She came down the staircase, wearing two carriers, one in front of her, one in back, papoose-style. “I didn’t mean to scare anyone. But it never hurts to be cautious. And Sheriff Cartwright is on the way. Our brothers are tracking Wolf.”

Kendall nearly fainted with relief. “Oh, thank God!” She ran to kiss her babies.

“They’re fine. Getting hungry, I think.” Ash glanced at Sloan. “I didn’t realize Wolf had Fiona and Burke until I heard his voice in the stairwell. By then, Kendall was already on top of things. You should have heard her take out that guard.” She smiled at her sister-in-law. “I had your back, but it seemed clear you had the situation in hand. The babies and I thought it was best to lie low. They, of course, never woke up. They’re not interested in drama.”

Kendall smiled, feeling at last like she belonged. It mattered so much to her to be part of the fight for the ranch and the people she loved.

Expressionless, Sloan reached to take one of his sons’ carriers from Ash. “You guys wrap this up. I’m taking my wife and boys home. Our family has a lot to discuss.”

Kendall took Isaiah from Ash and followed Sloan. They definitely had a lot to talk about—but then again, talking could be overrated when there were other things she wanted to do with her outlaw man.

* * *

“T
HIS
CAN
’
T
GO
ON
,”
Sloan told his wife. “I don’t want you taking on trained killers, Kendall.”

She set the babies in the playpen, bristling. “What do you suggest I should have done differently?”

“Let us handle it. That’s what we’re here for.”

“I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Fiona and Burke, and at that moment, I was the only one around.” Kendall glared at Sloan. “While I appreciate your concerns, I feel that they’re unfounded. I would never jeopardize myself or my family.”

“But you did,” he said, not certain how he was going to get her to understand that she was a mother, not a warrior. “When you came back here, you assured me that your bodyguards would be doing the defending. You said you wouldn’t be in a position again to be taken hostage.” He couldn’t really explain to his wife how badly she’d worried him. Their children needed her.
He
needed her. “But that’s not the way it’s worked out.”

She put her hands on her hips. He prepared himself for gale-force blowback. “Sloan, you’re my husband. Not my keeper. You need to deal with that, and we’ll both be a lot happier.”

He tipped her chin so he could look her into her eyes. “Kendall, you mean the world to me. You’re a special woman. But I don’t want you fighting. This isn’t your battle.”

“It’s a family fight,” Kendall said. “I’m part of this family. You made me part of the things that matter to Rancho Diablo and the Callahans.” She moved away, and he dropped his hand. “I don’t understand what you wanted me to do. Walk off? Cower in the hall and let Wolf hurt your aunt and uncle?” She shook her head. “Sloan, I’ve never been the kind of woman to look around for a man to solve my problems. It perplexes me that you expect it of me. Fiona isn’t the kind of lady who waits for people to take care of her, and your sister is certainly no shrinking violet. I’m guessing your mother wasn’t exactly a retiring, timid individual if she was in the CIA and is now in witness protection. There are no dependent do-nothings in your family tree. Why would you expect it of me?”

He glanced over at his sons. Small and soft now, they’d grow up as fierce as anyone in their bloodline, he figured. “Because I need it this way right now,” Sloan said with a sigh. “We can handle our own battles.”

She stared at him for the longest time. Sloan could tell she was measuring her thoughts and emotions against his words. Finally, she said, “I’m sorry. That’s just not who I am. And I can’t change, any more than you can.”

She was his whole heart, his world, along with these boys. Sloan knew Kendall wanted to be at his side in all things, Callahan in everything. But he didn’t want his wife kidnapped or embroiled in a confrontation. There were enough warriors around to defend Rancho Diablo.

The worst part was that Kendall was right. Though Ash had been upstairs, she wouldn’t have abandoned the babies to rescue Fiona and Burke. Ash had called Sheriff Cartwright, but he and his deputies and officers wouldn’t have been here in time.

Sloan knew Kendall had done the right thing—but that didn’t mean he liked it. Or that he could live with it.

* * *

K
ENDALL
WAS
SO
DISGUSTED
with her husband that she took the babies into town for a ride in the double stroller the next day. She didn’t want to be around his stubborn, ornery self. Claiming she needed the rest, he’d slept on the sofa, the babies on the pallet next to him.

He obviously wasn’t coming to her bed, and frankly, she’d been too steamed to care. Which wasn’t the way she wanted her marriage.

“Look,” she told the babies, “a bookstore. Let’s go find you a book.” She looked up at the sturdy pink awning over the Books’n’Bingo Society, deciding this was just what she needed: a glass of tea, a cookie and a book.

She pushed the stroller inside, where she was greeted by a woman with polka-dotted glasses and a cheery smile.

“Hello,” she said. “I’m Corinne Abernathy. I know who you are. You’re Kendall Phillips from Hell’s Colony who married Sloan Chacon Callahan. And these are your boys.” She beamed. “The three of us ladies—Nadine, Mavis and I—sent over baby gifts. And we received your sweet thank-you note.” She beamed, delighted when she spied two other ladies. “Mavis! Nadine! Come see the newest residents of Diablo!”

Her friends hurried over. Corinne showed Kendall to a chair, and the ladies picked up the babies, thrilled to take them around the small tearoom to show off to the other customers.

“What can I get you, dear?” Corinne asked.

Kendall hadn’t even looked at a menu. “I came in here for a glass of tea, a cookie and a book.”

Corinne smiled. “What period?”

“Excuse me?”

“The book, dear. What genre and period, approximately? I’ll see what we have that’s close.”

“Um...” Kendall couldn’t think. “Something romantic. Relaxing.”

“All right. So peach tea, a few cookies and perhaps the history of Diablo. Written by some of the locals.” Corinne beamed. “There’s quite a bit of romance, as you might imagine. And since you’re a permanent resident here now, you want to catch up on the history, I’m sure.”

Kendall nodded. “I’d love to read that. But I’m not sure I’m exactly a permanent resident.”

“Oh, Diablo gets in one’s blood, dear. I’ll go get your order.”

She went into the kitchen, placing an assortment of delicate cookies on a flower-patterned china plate. She poured a glass of tea, and as Mavis and Nadine rushed in with the babies to get the scoop on Kendall, Corinne sighed. “She’s not sure she’s a permanent resident. I’d say it’s time for us to do a little encouraging.”

They trotted back out, their mission in mind.

“Here’s your tea and an assortment of sweets.” Corinne set everything down. “I’ll get your copy of
Love, Diablo Style
out to you in a moment. You’ll enjoy it, I’m sure. Our local writers really know how to tell a yarn.”

Kendall smiled. “Thank you.”

Nadine took Isaiah in her lap. “These babies are growing so much that I can hardly believe it.”

“I know.” Kendall looked at her boys. “I can’t, either.”

“Before you know it, they’ll be riding,” Mavis said. “And then it’ll be time to enroll them in school. And then send them off to college. It all happens so fast, doesn’t it, Corinne?”

Corinne nodded. “Indeed. But we’re so happy to have you here in Diablo where we can watch these little angels grow up.”

Kendall looked at each of the women, studying them. “Thank you for your kindness.”

“You feel free to come to us anytime you need anything,” Nadine said. “We love to babysit. And as you probably know, Sabrina and Seton, who married Jonas and Sam Callahan, are Corinne’s nieces. Corinne knows a little something about Callahan men.”

Kendall smiled. “I’ve met your nieces many times. They’re wonderful women.”

“And so are you,” Corinne said, applying the soothing balm liberally. “I won’t say that Callahan men aren’t a handful, but the ladies who catch them seem very happy.”

The three women looked at Kendall, their eyes large and encouraging.

And Kendall didn’t know why she said it—she wasn’t the type to engage in personal chitchat—but she heard herself confiding, “My husband and I disagree on my role at the ranch. I see myself as a partner, sharing everything, the good times and the bad.”

“And Sloan?” Nadine asked, and the three women leaned forward to hear every word.

“Sloan seems to want a spouse who is willing to stay in the background and be a wife and mother.” Kendall thought about it, making sure her statement was fair. “He’s a good man, a wonderful father.”

“But so Callahan,” Nadine said, and Kendall smiled.

“That’s a plus most of the time,” she said.

“They can be ornery.” Corinne’s eyes twinkled. “Believe me, we all know. This town runs on ornery. We’re not afraid of ornery. What we worry about is uncommitted.”

“Oh,” Kendall said, “I think Sloan’s definitely committed.” He’d never indicated to her that he didn’t want to be married, just the opposite.

“Wasn’t Sloan the loner?” Mavis asked. “I think Fiona said that of all of them, he was the least likely to settle down. I mean, she wasn’t excitedly positive about any of them being marriage material, but I seem to recall her saying that Sloan was the wild card.”

It was true, Kendall remembered. Sloan had never been like Jace, who claimed he wanted a woman and a family. Or like Galen, who thought he wanted to go back to school to pick up another specialty. Or Falcon, who just wanted to stay unconnected, enjoying his life as a thinker and a poet and a rebel. Or Dante and Tighe, who were determined to get out on the rodeo circuit, as soon as they were all freed of the grip the past had on Rancho Diablo.

But Sloan had married her, almost faster than she’d ever imagined a man might want to be wed. “I never thought about that. Sloan was the dedicated loner.”

“Not for long, it seems,” Nadine said with a gentle smile. “Seems he’s more like a wolf, mating for life.”

Kendall looked at her sons. “It’s hard for me to compromise sometimes.”

“Of course, dear. Compromising one’s independence isn’t really compromise, though,” Mavis told her. “It’s more like reinforcing.”

Reinforcing. She’d never thought of it that way.

“It’s like you build each other up, fill in each other’s weaknesses,” Corinne said. “He’s not looking for a namby-pamby woman, Kendall. He wouldn’t have married you if he hadn’t loved your fire and your strength. I’d say that’s exactly what attracted Sloan the most.”

Kendall stood. She gathered up her purse and diaper bag, and the ladies helped her strap the babies into their stroller. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me to see this another way.”

“No trouble at all,” Corinne said, beaming. “It’s what we love to do. Let me go get your book. You’ll enjoy it, I just know. And when you get to the chapter on the infamous magic wedding dress that all the Callahan brides have worn, you just go ahead and ask Fiona about that.” Corinne’s eyes sparkled. “I believe she has it tucked away for the next wedding at Rancho Diablo.”

“I know about the magic wedding dress,” Kendall said. “The legend says a bride sees her true love when she puts it on. Supposedly the gown came via Jonas’s wife. Someone in Sabrina’s family bought it from a gypsy, if I have the story details right.”

“That’s right, and all the Callahan brides got married twice. Once on Rancho Diablo land.” Corinne went to retrieve the book, coming back a moment later to slip it into the diaper bag. “You just come back anytime you need a chat,” she said. “We’ve always got a pot of tea on and cookies in the oven.”

Kendall left, pushing her sons out into the beautiful sunny day, feeling suddenly as if everything was going to be all right.

Magical, in fact.

Chapter Nineteen

Sloan went to the ring of seven stones that his grandfather had said was their new home, which seemed like years ago now. He hadn’t thought then that this endless, barren place would ever seem like home—not that he had a real one. He had the cabin, but that wasn’t a home—not like what he wanted to have with Kendall and his boys.

“Much has changed,” he said out loud, and the words carried away on the slight breeze. Sloan knelt, put his hand on the stone nearest him, feeling the day’s heat still in its smoothness. “Even my heart changed.”

Changed so much, in ways he could never have anticipated. Maybe Sloan’s grandfather had known. Maybe he would never know the things the chief knew. But he wanted to remain on the journey, walking the path set before him.

And he wanted to stay married to his wife.

He lit the small cache of sticks set in the middle of the stone circle. After a moment the flame caught, deepening to an orange hue in the tiny pyre. He’d not been back since his grandfather had brought him and his siblings here. This fire had not been lit since then. Sloan had half expected not even to find it.

Yet it was, a calm testament to permanence in the canyons. He breathed in deep, let the peace wash over him.

It felt good to be home.

His grandfather stepped out from a nearby cave, almost as if he’d expected him to come.

“Grandfather,” Sloan said.

“Sloan Chacon Callahan. You are here for answers. And peace for your spirit.”

He smiled at the chief. His grandfather never seemed to change. That long, flowing hair somehow stayed dark; his face untouched by time, his muscles and bones strong. “I want everything to be right.”

Running Bear nodded. “Looking for answers
is
right. I saw your sons in the hospital.” He smiled. “They will make you strong.”

“Sometimes they make me weak,” Sloan said, and the two men squatted near the fire to talk. “I fear for them. They’re so helpless.”

“But their mother is a warrior. As you are.” He waved a hand over the fire and the flame leaped a bit, stretching toward the darkening sky.

“She is,” Sloan acknowledged, “and she scares me, too. I want to protect her, but that isn’t something she wants from me.”

The chief shrugged. “In many societies, the women are strong warriors. It’s a good thing. You would know real fear if she was weak.”

Sloan hadn’t thought of it that way. “I can’t keep her safe here, but she doesn’t want to leave. Kendall wants to be here with me. She’s a fighter.”

“So let her fight. Life is a fight,” Running Bear said. “Would you rather she give up?”

“No.” He loved her spirit.

“Your sons are fighters. They were born early, but they thrived anyway. And in the future, they will be very much like their grandfather.”

Sloan stared at his uncle. “How do you know this?”

“We are warriors. We protect, we serve. You expect them to be any different than either of their grandfathers?”

“I don’t know,” Sloan said. “They’re so tiny. I can’t imagine them as men.”

His grandfather laughed. “Then you’re not looking. Not listening to their spirits. Next time you hold them, look into their eyes. See the spirits of warriors inside them.”

That scared him. He wanted to protect them—but he knew the chief was telling him he could not. They, too, would choose their own paths. But they would be strong.

Like their mother.

“The hardest thing you will ever do is accept that you are only to guard them now. Later, you will give them away to their destiny.”

Sloan nodded. “I understand now.”

“There is nothing to fear. We are all our destinies.”

“I know.” It was going to be hard, but he knew now. “Thank you.”

“You have done well. Your wife and sons are gifts to make you strong. You have kept the land safe.”

“I don’t know if I have. There’s so much I don’t understand.” Sloan stared into the fire. “They’re going to keep coming.”

“Maybe,” the chief said, “but that’s all they can do. They don’t know it, but they can never take back the past.”

Sloan wished he had his grandfather’s confidence. But then again, he and his siblings were strong. And they were fighters, with strong spirits. He knew that now.

Sloan watched his grandfather walk to the edge of the canyons. And then he simply disappeared. A war cry echoed in the distance.

Sloan let the fire die out and rode away.

* * *

K
ENDALL
DISMISSED
the bodyguards for the night, wanting time alone with her babies, and her husband if he came home. She hoped with all her heart he would. More than anything, she wanted to talk to him, work things out with Sloan, tell him how much she loved him.

She didn’t know if he would come home to her. A lot of darkness had touched their brief marriage.

She put the babies in their cribs, smiling at her sons as they snuggled down into their blankets, worn out by the car ride. They were so sweet, so darling that she didn’t know how she could have ever thought she wouldn’t want children. They’d completely changed her heart, and her life.

Like their father.

Kendall turned around when she heard the front door open. Sloan walked into the nursery, tall and broad-shouldered, his face set in firm lines. Her heart leaped with hope.

“The babies just fell asleep,” Kendall said.

He came to look into the cribs. “They’re strong. Like their mother.”

She looked at him, studying his face. “I’ve been wondering.”

“About?”

“Us.” She took Sloan’s hand, and when he didn’t resist her, led him down the hall to the den. “Are you happy?”

He sat on the couch and pulled her into his lap. “Yes. You make me happy.”

“I do?” She loved hearing those words, felt hope grow inside her.

He kissed her, long and slowly. “Yes. You make me happier than I’ve ever been in my life. You’re part of my family, part of my soul and part of me.”

Tears jumped into her eyes. “I didn’t expect to hear you say something like that.”

“I won’t forget to tell you in the future.”

She took a deep breath. “Sloan, I know I’m not—”

“You are,” he said, kissing her again before she could finish her sentence. “You’re everything to me. I’ve been afraid to know that. I wanted to keep you safe. But that’s not what is best. Your spirit needs to be free.”

She smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you so much. I don’t ever want to lose you.” He kissed her, and Kendall felt her heart soar. “I think the problem is that we didn’t get married in the customary way.”

“What do you mean?”

“We got married thinking perhaps we would get divorced after the babies were born. I should never have made that deal with you. I just wanted you any way I could get you.”

“Can we fix it?” Kendall asked, wondering what was on her husband’s mind.

“Marry me again. With our friends and our family around. And our boys, of course.”

She kissed him, filled with joy and thankfulness. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

“You would do it?”

She smiled. “Miss the chance to tie you down a second time? It’s reinforcement.”

Sloan looked at his wife, heard her words. Remembered that his grandfather had told them a long time ago that a chain could be broken if the weakest link wasn’t reinforced.

He wasn’t weak, not anymore. He had Kendall and his sons, and he was strong.

He held his wife against his chest, feeling the wolf settle inside him with a sense of contentment and peace he knew would last for the rest of his life.

He had found his destiny.