“I’m sorry. I had no choice but to call you out here to clean up a long-overdue mess. Now that I’m engaged and embarking on a new life, it needs to be resolved.”
Leaning back, he took his hat off and placed it beside him on the table. Over the years, he’d lost a lot of the thick, wavy hair she loved. “Oh yeah, with that rich fella, George, your mama’s been going on about for three months. When are you gettin’ hitched?”
“Thatwedding is canceled. I’m now engaged to my ex-boyfriend, William.” How odd, yet wonderful, that sounded to her ears.
“Well, I’ll be. Two serious fellas in one year. That’s sure more than Janie ever had. How’d that happen?”
“We were fated, I guess. I’ve never been happier, Daddy.” She grinned from her heart.
“I can see that, but your sister and mama like that fella George and all his money.”
“They can have him. He’s a terrible person, a grifter, and far from rich.”
His gaze switched to her left hand. “So, I take it, your sister hasn’t seen that monstrosity on your finger yet. You know she’s gonna be itchin’ for one. Why, even Mary and her lazy eye have had better luck with men than that poor child.”
“She hasn’t seen the ring because she doesn’t know William is back in my life, and that’s where you come in.”
He nodded. “By the way, your mama says hello.”
“That’s nice.”
“Ladybug, tomorrow ain’t promised to no one. You really should bury the hatchet and apologize just to make her happy. She doesn’t mean half the things she says and forgets them if you call her out. It’s just her way after years of your grandmama’s shameless torment. That old hag, may she burn in fiery brimstone. There, I said my piece about all that.”
“I don’t mean to be insolent, but I don’t want to talk about my relationship with Frances or make excuses foranyone’sgenerational trauma, mine included. I need your help with another pressing familial issue born out of that dysfunction.”
“Well, then, pop your corn. Let’s hear about this emergency that made me drop everything to travel across the country. I’m missin’ bible study.”
Bible study?Putting her shoulders back, she said. “Jane’s instability is a four-alarm emergency. I asked you to come because she’s overstayed her welcome and my bank account. She did something so despicable, I don’t think I have it in me to forgive her, and that says a lot. She needs to leave Manhattan and never return to my world. There, I said my piece about allthat.”
“You goin’ no contact again?” He sighed, then chuckled wryly, shaking his head.
“Limited contact. I’m sorry, but I can no longer allow the abuse of my sisterly affection. My life and agency are no longer up for debate. Our relationship has devolved to transactional, and my love isn’t currency.”
“I don’t know what this agency thing is you speak of, but I’m glad to see you stickin’ up for yourself, Ladybug. But if you think Iwanther to return to Laramie, you’re expecting too much of me. Bless your heart.”
“I don’t care where she goes, so long as it’s outside New York’s tri-state area.”
“That ain’t gonna be easy on me because I finally succeeded in marrying off Kitty and Lydia, the two silliest girls in Wyoming, to the two dumbest, most desperate buckaroos that side of the Mississippi. Do you want to finally kill your daddy by having your mama’s clone return to the ranch?”
“But you’ve always liked Jane.”
Serious as a heart attack, he looked her straight in the eyes without so much as a blink. “I onlylikedJanie’s pretty face, but Iloveyou and your soul—and my sanity. Darlin’, I don’t have it in me any longer to take on your big sister and mama—together—under the same roof. Uh-huh, that train has left the station.”
“I understand, I do.”
“I’ll be settin’ up house in the barn ... with my horses and that rancid donkey if that happens.” His pointed index finger poked at some unknown destination to his right. “Hell, I’ll go live out on the range in a tipi before I spend one night in that house.”
“Then find her an apartment in Rock River.” She pointed at the table to counter his argument.
Big Tom continued to resist. Shaking his head, his voice lowered. “Best thing that could happen is if they both give each other the silent treatment, because there ain’t no way I’d survive those two cackling hens fightin’ over control of every damned thing, no matter where in Albany County she lives.”
Honestly, she didn’t expect this amount of objection over the return of Mama’s golden child, but he’d apparently come to an epiphany. “Well, I need someone finally in my corner, and you are the only one Jane is afraid of. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but ... you’re partly responsible for enabling Frances and creating Jane.”
“You might be right, I suppose.” He knit his brow, then rubbed his neck. “It’s easier just to remain silent in that damn house filled withfivecrazy women—until you can’t—and then you get a burr in your saddle and just explode like you ate someof your mama’s miserable chili. I don’t like frightenin’ the shit outtaanybody, but there you have it.” He calmed, closed his eyes, and then took a cleansing breath.
She could almost hear him counting to four, then exhaling for four at the prospect of Jane’s return to Wyoming.
“But I’m trying to be a morepeacefulman now that your sisters are gone. I even got myself one of those shrinks for psycho people, and I visit that church on the corner of Lark and Meadow Streets every Sunday, for sure. God is good, and so is life, right now. Don’t go messin’ it up on me!” He bore his eyes into her to make a point, but she stayed the course.
