“That actually used to be a different ranch,” he said. “My momma’s family owned it. It was called Shining Star. But Aunt Evelyn married Uncle Rhett first. They were next-door neighbors, and then her older sister married my uncle Liam, and then my momma married Daddy.”
“So the three sisters owned the neighboring ranch, and they married three brothers who’d moved in next door.”
Trap grinned as he set down a paper plate inside each of the baskets. “Yes,” he said. “That’s right, and now it’s all just Seven Sons.”
Lila Mae paused at the end of the oval-shaped table and watched Trap lay out the plates. He was just sogood, and she really enjoyed learning more about him and being in his presence.
“But Momma and Daddy had known each other for a while. Apparently, they tried dating once, and it didn’t go very well, soMomma broke up with him and didn’t want to go out with him again.”
“So what happened?” she asked.
“They’re pretty cagey about all of it,” he said, glancing over to her. “But I got my grams to tell me this story once, and basically what happened is they both auditioned for the same play, and they accidentally got married during the audition.”
Lila Mae froze, and the smile fell from her face. “What?”
Trap chuckled. “Yeah, and I guess they decided to give marriage a try.”
“Give marriage a try?”
“Do not recommend, by the way,” Simone said,
Lila Mae’s gaze shot over to where his momma now glided down the steps to the patio. She handed Trap a stack of cups, giving it to him with a healthy side-eye. “I didn’t know you’d asked Grams about that.”
“Well, I had to ask someone,” he said. “You guys act like it’s a national secret.”
“Oh, we do not.”
“Anyway,” he said. “Later, after they were really in love, they got remarried here in the backyard.”
“We all did,” Simone said. “Because Micah’s parents hadn’t been around for any of the weddings, so we had a big ceremony here. I was pregnant with Trap at the time.”
He nodded. “It’s part of the scandal.”
“It’s not a scandal,” his mother said. “Your Daddy and Iweremarried.”
“Sure you were,” he said.
She swatted at him with a bundle of silverware that had been pre-packaged together with a napkin. Trap smiled at her, dodged, and chuckled as he arrived at Lila Mae’s side. “No, they were, and I’m told they were mad for each other by the time I was born.”
“That’s a great story,” Lila Mae said, looking from him to his mother to try to judge her reaction. “And you and Micah are obviously in love.”
Simone smiled at her, something soft in her expression. “Yes, but we definitely didn’t have a traditional start.”
The sliding glass door opened again, and Whitney came outside with a big blue bowl in one hand and a stack of napkins in another. Lila Mae went to help her, but she’d started a parade of people all bringing out various lunch items.
She went around the table, laying out the napkins beside the baskets she’d already put at several places while the noise intensified around her. Micah and Jeremiah were obviously close, as were Whitney and Simone, and Lila Mae loved watching and listening to them talk to one another, interact with Trap and Laurel, and she was once again reminded of how very different Trap’s family was from hers.
One, her mother would never willingly eat outside, off paper plates and with plastic utensils. Two, family meals were a formal affair, and while none of them had changed out of their church clothes, the men had removed their ties, and Simone currently walked in bare feet as she said, “I’ll grab the buns, and we’ll pray.”
“Lila Mae.”
She looked over to Trap, realizing she’d gone inside her own head for a few minutes there.
“Come sit down, sweetheart.” He pulled out the chair beside Laurel, and Lila Mae moved to sit down. He sandwiched her between them, and she realized he’d put her in the safest place possible.
His mother returned with a bag of buns, and she tossed them into the middle of the table, where the rest of the food had been put. “All right, Micah.” She sat down beside her husband. “Let’s pray and eat—oh, and Trap has rules about him and Lila Mae.”
“Rules, huh?”
