She continued on, probably to the bathroom given her trajectory. I watched until she disappeared, then focused on Mal. He looked tense and worried, for some reason.
“She’s always up in everybody’s business,” I said quietly. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Mal cleared his throat. “Payton and I met her the last time we stopped in at the library. She was very interested in us moving to town. Crew, I told her I worked at Blue Creek.”
I cocked my head. “So?”
“What if she thinks—”
“Who cares?” I cut him off, not wanting him to go down any of those rabbit holes. “We aren’t doing anything wrong. And she might want to know everything, but she isn’t a gossip, oddly enough. She likes lording it over people that she knows things others don’t.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but I wasn’t sure what he was worried about. It was no big deal, and honestly, I didn’t care who knew about our relationship. The only important people, Payton and my family, liked it. Well, I guessed there was his mom too, but we hadn’t talked much about her. I’d have to change that.
Stacy brought our food and we dug in. Conversation turned to what he and Hawk were doing with the training horses and Mal relaxed, his face lighting up. I sat back, eating and listening, loving his passion.
We were almost back to the ranch when I took a right turn onto a barely traveled path. It took Mal a few seconds to recognize that I’d made the turn too early.
“Where are you going?”
“Trust me,” I said and even though Mal looked unsure, he nodded.
A couple of minutes later, we came to a cattle gate. I had to dig around in the glove box for a few seconds to find the right remote, and I had to click it twice before it worked. Battery must be getting low. I made a mental note to change it out and then slowed to a stop to make sure the gate closed behind us.
“Crew?”
I rolled forward slowly, mostly because even though my truck could handle the field, we were getting jostled around. I didn’t go too far, just until I reached the first copse of trees. Then I put it in park and turned off the engine.
“Come on.”
“Crew middle name Harrington, where are we going?” Mal was skeptical but he got out of the truck when I did.
“I wanna show you something.” I grabbed the blanket I had stashed in the back of the cab, then rounded the hood and held out a hand. “And it’s Lynn.”
Mal blinked. “What?’
“My middle name. It’s Lynn.”
His lips quirked up just a tick. “Really?”
I nodded. “You know about Gigi Fern, right?”
It was his turn to nod. “You told me some about her. You all talk about her all the time, and I finally asked Hawk. He gave me the full version of who she was to your family.”
“Right. So. Did he tell you why?” I glanced at him as I lifted a branch of blue spruce out of the way and held it for him to duck under. We were almost there. He shook his head, so I elaborated. “She was young and unmarried when she got pregnant, and her family disowned her. She came out here with a rather large pay off to raise her daughter. But when her daughter was six, she got meningitis and passed away.”
Mal made a wounded noise. I was sure it hit him hard, because of Payton. He rubbed his chest with his free hand. “I’m so sorry. That’s so sad.”
“Gigi Fern was devastated. I don’t think she ever really recovered. I honestly don’t know how you can. But….” I blew out a breath, because this was the part where our families connected. Normally, we didn’t talk about it, but Mal was mine and he deserved to know. “My parents. You know they were really young when they had Bodhi.”
“Yeah.”
“Both their families…man. My parents faced so much ridicule and negativity. And had no help. But Gigi Fern, she heard about it. She knew what my parents were going through. So she took them in. Gave them love and support. Without her, none of this would be possible.”
Mal sucked in a breath. “She was their angel.”
I laughed, thinking about the loud, grumpy woman who had the biggest heart on this earth.
“She was. Bodhi already had Dad’s name as his middle name, but then I came along.” I smiled. “Can you guess what her daughter’s name was?”
