“What’s a penis, Mommy?”Markie just blinked up at her, through the glasses, so serious.
Of course, that comment went over well with the heathens.Bruce Tyler’s daughters weren’t exactly civilized, after all.She snickered at the look in Calloway’s dark, dark green eyes at that question.
She wouldn’t have them any other way than what they were.She nudged Tobi, who still eyed Calloway like he was an ogre in their midst, toward the dinner table.“Go on, little sister.I’m coming.”
Tobi slipped her hand into Auggie’s free one and tugged.She was a little clingy at times.Auggie had no way of knowing if that was a natural part of her personality, or if it was a result of the trauma Tobi had experienced when the men responsible for Auggie’s injuries had abducted the little girl.
They were in regular counseling sessions for the older four girls.That took time.
If they enrolled in public school, counseling sessions might become less frequent.She didn’t know if that would be a good idea right now.No matter what some idiot in town had told her sheshoulddo with the girls today.She’d told that old busybody at the library to mind her own business.Auggiewas in charge of making the decisions for the girls.Anyone else didn’t like it, tough.Unless they hadTylerin their name, their opinion of how she was raising the girls didn’t matter.Period.
Her cousinGilwas a godsend, too; he let her do her work on a schedule that was extremely flexible, and mobile.She did half her work each week from home.For the girls.
Calloway Grady, even with his black hair, wicked green eyes, and even more wicked smile, most definitely was not a godsend.But like it or not, she wasn’t about to send her closest friends’ older brother out into the night, after finding him unconscious alongside the road.
She was better than that.
And something about how hard it had been to rouse him really worried her.She just looked at him for a moment.His eyes were clearer than they had been.He seemed alert, if a little quiet.Now.Before…he just hadn’t acted like the Calloway she had always known.“Dinner is ready.Please, join us.”
He shot her one of those wicked grins.Auggie felt her ire rise at the expression.She would never like this man.It was just rotten luck that he was here at all.
“Don’t mind if I do.Mini-Augusta is leaking, by the way.Might want to fix that.”
Sure enough, Auggie’s shirt was drenched.Cloth diapers worked very well, but…sometimes they didn’t.“Well, accidents happen.”
She looked at her sisters, herfamily,as they watched her and the troll.“I’ll be right back.Get started without me.”
3
Cal watchedhis rescuer-slash-jailer limp away.Watched her struggle on the stairs a bit, one hand on the handrail, and the other arm wrapped protectively around the baby.
He wanted to rush over there and help her.He would admit that to himself, at least.He knew better, though.Auggie wasn’t the kind of woman that wantedrescued.He knew that instinctively.Had to be the one in charge, that one.Couldn’t appear weak in front of anyone, or else.
He hadn’t seen her since before the shooting.Eventhinkingabout the day she had almost died was guaranteed to send his blood pressure through the roof.Two of his sisters had been on the street the day an enemy of Auggie’s father had decided to teach that man a lesson.
With bullets.Aimed at Bruce Tyler’s daughters.Larry Kellman hadn’t cared about the other people on that street at all.
Claudia had almost bled to death.Had the man used anything larger than the .22-caliber, and she would probably have died that day.
Auggie had nearly died, too.It was a miracle she’d pulled through.Junie had been struck and nearly bled to death, as well, he thought.Em had been grazed.
Junie had knocked his youngest sister out of the way.Clancy had had only bumps and bruises.She’d told him that as soon as Junie realized what was happening, she’d just…thrown herself right at Clancy and Em and protected them as best she could.He’d owe Junie for that, forever.
Auggie’s struggles showed the results of that day.It had him hurting.She’d been all fire before.He suspected she still was, but now…there was darkness in her eyes.
Scars.
When she’d come right at him and yelled at him for trying to buy her ranch over a year ago, she had shocked him.Even her hair—wild, pumpkin-colored ringlets—had vibrated with her rage.And those eyes had shot lasers at him.As she had ripped him up one side and down, and even brought hismotherinto it.Cal had never forgotten.
She had been so alive that day.Vibrant.
He’d been taken aback.He’d not recognized her as Cloe’s friend, at first.The woman she had become was not anything like that shy, insecure, quiet girl she had been.He had been away at college during Cloe’s teen years.He had only seen Auggie a handful of times that he could recall.Just quietly in the shadows.
Until his father had nearly killed her cousin Maggie.At first, he’d mistaken Maggie for Auggie.They had the same color hair, although Maggie’s didn’t curl like Auggie’s.The other one with the curly strawberry blonde hair was Nikki.He’d mixed them all up in his memories, too.
Tylers looked like other Tylers.No denyingthat.
It was hard to keep them all straight at times.He’d known Nikki from the diner.Em and Junie still worked there, too, he thought.But nother.
