Auggie worked for her cousin Gil now.He wasn’t certain what she did for the man.He and Gil had had a few not so pleasant run-ins over the past two or three years.Well, going all the way back to high school, really.Gil had been a bit of a brawler back then.Cal had been a bit on the wild side himself.They had clashed.And clashed often.
Sometimes with fists.
Now, it was mostly just business run-ins, but…another reason he’d wanted his sisters to avoid the Tylers, if at all possible.Even before what his father had done.
Well, there was no avoiding the Tylers tonight.They had rescued him and offered him dinner.He wasn’t going to be an ass, even if he’d rather be surrounded by rabid coyotes than the seven Tyler females staring at him now.
Cal stepped cautiously toward the table.He still felt disoriented.Cloudy.It was worse when he was standing.
“Head still hurt?”Em asked.“I have some ibuprofen.”
“I’m just a little dizzy, but thanks.”Em liked to pester him, same as Clancy did, but he still felt a bit protective over her.She and Clancy were such close friends, he’d known her almost her entire life.He settled into an empty chair, assuming the one at the head of the table next to the highchair washers.
The queen’s.
The little girls just stared at him, varying levels of apprehension on their faces.It was the first time he’d really gotten a good look at Bruce Tyler’s secret daughters.They all just looked like each other.The hair was about all that really varied.Every last one of them was a redhead of some shade or another.They all had big blue eyes and cat-like little faces and pointed little chins.Even Em and Junie.They were an intimidating lot, that was for sure.
Junie was dishing up plates filled with slices of pizza, then passing them to the teenager next to her who would give breadsticks and would hand it to Em, who would add the salad and dressing.They were very efficient.And they just included him right in with the rest of them.Like he’d always been there.The pet troll in their midst.
By the time Auggie had returned, in cotton pajamas in the deepest of blues that made her eyes even darker, with the baby, everyone had a plate.Em had Auggie’s ready and waiting for her, while Junie had a bowl of microwaved baby pasta ready.
These women were scarily efficient, even at something as simple as a meal.
Well, with six younger sisters they were now raising together, efficiency had to be the name of the game.
Auggie fastened the baby into the highchair.Cal studied the baby for a long moment.She was definitely Auggie in miniature.The hair was as wild as Auggie’s and as red as Junie’s.She was a beautiful baby.She smacked her little lips and started babbling, seeing her food.“I take it she’s hungry?”
“She’s just starting solids.”
He still remembered Clancy as a baby.She’d been adorable, no denying that.
Auggie smiled.It was almost as if she was smiling at him.Damn.He wanted the woman to smile at him more often.There was real power in that woman’s smile.Enough to bring even a smart troll with his guard up down to his knees.
“Everything smells wonderful,” she said.“Thanks, Junie, for cooking tonight.”
“I love pizza,” one of the girls said.“I wish we’d had it before.With our old dad.”
Augusta’s smile tightened.Cal just sat in his chair and observed.“Well, we’ll have it a lot of times now, I promise.”
“Mommy Aug,” the one with the lisp said.“What’s a burden?”
“A burden is something that’s heavy or difficult to carry.Why?”Mommy Auganswered.He supposed that was exactly what she was now.
“Miss Smith at the liberry told cousin Pete that it was a pity that you hads to take on Daddy’s burdens and won’t ever find a decentmanof your own now today, especially since you can’t walk good no more,” the little girl said.“She didn’t know I heared her.”
“And what did cousin Pete say in return?”Em asked.
“He said Tylers take care of Tylers.It’s what we do.I think her made cousin Pete mad, though.When she said you had other problems and were brokened, too.He had a mad look on his face.”
“It means Miss Smith doesn’t think Auggie will ever find a husband of her own,” the teenager said.“Because she has to take care of the six of us now.That we are problems for Auggie.But we promised we weren’t going to be, remember?”
“Thath stupid.Mommy foundedhims.She saw hims first on the road.”The younger girl pointed at Cal as she lisped.“Husbands are boys, right?”
“You’re right about that.But she meant a husband and not just boys.Husbands are guys you marry.She meant Auggie won’t find a guy to marry,” Junie said, perfectly calm.“Not just finding Aunt Claudia’s brother when he was in an accident.Because Mommy Aug will be too busy taking care of you all.But that’s just silly talk.”
“There was a book from the library with a really pretty redheaded lady on the cover.She looked just like Auggie, same hair and everything.I read it last week,” one of the older girls said.“It was about this lady, and she had four little sisters to take care of.And she was trying to protect her ranch, too.They were in Texas in the 1800s.And there were these greedy ranchers and stuff with guns.And they wanted her land and they were going to make her marry one of them so they could get it and because she was so beautiful.Just like Auggie.But they were really mean and she didn’t want to marry them.But there was this ranger—that’s like a cop, like Aunt Sage and Aunt Claudia—and he came to rescue her and then they did the gross kissing stuff and had se?—"
“Julianna.Enough,” Auggie said.“Next time we go to the library, we’re going to check what you pick out a lot more closely.”
