Chapter 7: Chapter 6

The sound of music, laughter, and voices reached my ears before my foot hit the top step. The familiar feelings of warmth and heartache slid through me—gratitude for the family I found myself a part of, mixed with a dash of longing for the family I’d lost. But somewhere along the way, I realized that losing so much had made me appreciate what I’d found even more.

I reached for the doorknob to the massive white farmhouse and twisted. It was unlocked, like always. And that state had Trace and Shep lecturing Nora and Lolli to no end. They never listened.

“Sounds like a party in here,” I called.

“Auntie Rho!” a tiny voice squealed. She was more a blur of motion than a six-year-old little girl and hit me with a force that had me stumbling back a step.

“Careful, Keels,” Trace called from the kitchen.

The little girl beamed up at me. “Missed you.”

I brushed the dark strands of hair away from a face that looked so much like her father’s. The green eyes, the smile, though her grin held a tiny gap between the two front teeth. “Missed you, too. What trouble have you been causing?”

Her smile only widened. “I’d never.”

Trace snorted. “She hid water balloons in the barn and doused me.”

Keely let out a giggle that was all carefree innocence. “He told me I couldn’t get him. But he was wrong.”

I wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders, guiding her toward the kitchen island where Fallon was perched next to Lolli, sipping wine. “Never give a girl a challenge,” I chastised Trace.

He smirked at me. “Lesson learned.” His gaze did a quick roam. It was a check similar to Shep’s earlier, but I knew Trace took in more during his quick glance. Maybe it was his years in law enforcement, or perhaps it was how he’d grown up before his placement with the Colsons, but Trace saw more than the average person and could pin it down faster, too. “Everything went okay?”

I nodded. “All’s good.”

Keely tipped her head back to look up at me. “You’re moved?”

“Yup. Just need to unpack.”

She bounced up and down on her tiptoes. “I wanna come see it. Dad said there’s lots of land. That you could have horses like Auntie Arden does. Are you gonna? Are you?”

I tugged on one of Keely’s pigtails. “You’re horse-crazy.”

“You’re telling me,” Trace grumbled.

His daughter had been begging for a horse for years, but she had to settle for riding the ones on the ranch or those at Arden’s place.

“I’m ready, Daddy. I swear. I’m responstable enough.”

Trace’s lips quirked as if fighting a laugh that wanted to surface. “We don’t have space for a horse right now.”

Nora’s fingers tightened on the whisk, and I knew she was fighting the urge to offer up her barn. Keely would be spoiled silly if Nora had her way. But it was important to Trace that his daughter grow up with rules and responsibilities. He was gentle with them, wanting his little girl to have the experience of being a carefree child that he’d missed out on, but they were still there.

Keely grinned up at him. “We could totally fit a pony in our backyard.”

He rounded the island and grabbed his daughter, hoisting her into the air as he tickled her side. “Oh, really? You might have to give up your swing set, then.”

She let out a peal of laughter. “Daddy!”

“Sorry I’m late,” Shep called as the door slammed behind him.

“Uncle Shep!” Keely yelled. “Save me from the tickle monster.”

Shep beamed, hauling her into his arms. “I’ve got you, Warrior Princess. Should we vanquish him together?”

Keely giggled, bobbing her head up and down in a nod.

Shep grabbed a towel from the counter and snapped it at Trace.

Trace jumped back a few steps and snagged a grape from the charcuterie board Nora had put out, pelting it at Shep, who batted it away easily.

“You’ll never win. The Warrior Princess is safe from your clutches,” Shep said with an exaggerated evil laugh.

Keely shrieked happily as Shep carried her around the living room at a gallop.

He’s made for this, I thought as I watched the two of them. He was the kind of man created for family. Yet, he hadn’t found it. There were plenty of interested women in Sparrow Falls. As much as he was a brother to me, I could tell in a clinical sort of way that he was good-looking. Add to that the fact that his construction business had grown and multiplied over the years, and more than a few women were looking his way.

But Shep chose his romantic partners carefully. He moved slowly getting into things, and quickly getting out of them. The first hint of someone not being what he was looking for and he was gone. The problem? Perfection was a figment of the imagination. If he really wanted marriage and a family, he’d have to settle for someone human like the rest of us.

Nora pinned Trace with a stare. “Pick up that grape, young man.”

He sent her a sheepish smile. “You’re not going to lecture Shep for the towel stunt? He could’ve taken my eye out.”

Nora just shook her head. “I swear you two will be thirteen until the day you breathe your last breath.”

But I knew Nora took that as a point of pride when it came to Trace. He’d been older than his years when he came to live with her and Lolli, taking on way too much responsibility for his twelve-year-old self. So, seeing him find that sense of carefree fun, even now, would always make her happy.

“Where’s Arden?” Lolli asked, setting down her wine. “I want an update on her latest piece.”

Shep set Keely down, barely out of breath. “Still working on said piece. I couldn’t convince her to break away.”

Nora frowned. “She needs to eat.”

“I told her I’d drop a plate by later.”

Nora shook her head. “That’s not good enough. She needs to take a break and spend time with her family.”

Lolli patted Nora’s hand. “Don’t be such a worrywart. You know how we artists can get when we’re in the throes of a new project. She’s making magic.”

Shep’s lips twitched. “Looked mostly like a hunk of metal to me.”

Lolli made a pssh sound. “You just don’t have vision.”

“Vision like you and your dick flower?” a deep voice asked from the entryway.

We all turned to see Kyler striding into the space, his scuffed-up motorcycle boots eating up the distance. If you didn’t know him the way we did, you’d likely cross the street if you saw him coming. He looked like part mountain man and part tattoo god, with ink wrapping around his arms and beginning to trail up his neck.

“What’s a dick flower?” Keely asked, her voice sounding extra angelic.

Trace glared at Kyler. “Thanks for that.”

Kye winced. “I didn’t see her there. She’s tiny, man.”

Lolli patted Trace’s arm. “Now, now. There’s nothing wrong with the human body.” She turned to Keely. “He’s talking about the picture I made for Rho’s new house.”

Keely brightened at that. “Can I have a dick flower, too?”

“No!” Trace and Nora said at the same time.

The rest of us dissolved into laughter.

“Will someone help me set the table?” Nora asked, exasperation lacing her tone.

“I will,” I offered, moving to open the silverware drawer.

She wrapped an arm around me, pulling me in and kissing the top of my head. “You settling in?”

We were an affectionate bunch, easy with our hugs. The only one who steered clear was Kyler. Maybe because he’d ended up with us later in life at sixteen and had been through so much. He seemed to keep everyone at arm’s length.

Kyler crossed to the island, grabbing a grape and popping it into his mouth. Then he glanced down at Fallon. “How was the home visit?”

The faintest blush lit the apples of her cheeks, but her mouth thinned. “It went all right.”

Kyler’s forearm bunched and flexed like a cobra ready to strike. “Just all right?”

Fallon shrugged. “The dad was kind of a jerk.”

Kye’s jaw worked back and forth. “How so?”

Her eyes flashed in challenge. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Fallon—”

“It was fine,” she said, cutting him off.

She was the one person Kyler had let in after coming to live with Nora and Lolli. Maybe it was the gentleness that radiated through Fallon or that she was someone he could protect, but the two had become attached at the hip. Even now, I couldn’t understand half of what they said to each other. It was as if they had their own unique language.

“What’d you work on today?” Lolli asked Kye, saving us from any battles of wills before dinner.

“Pretty decent chest piece and a tribal on a calf.” He rolled his eyes at the second one. “Lots of idiots turning eighteen this spring.”

Lolli chuckled. “I got a tattoo when I turned eighteen.”

Kyler’s brows rose at that tidbit of information.

“Wild child, right across my⁠—”

“Okay,” Trace cut in as he picked up Keely. “I think that’s enough corruption for one night.”

Keely looked up at her dad. “What’s corrupston?”

“It means your uncle and supergran are bad influences.”

Keely just giggled. “No, they’re not. They’re the besterest.”

“Listen to the child,” Lolli said, grabbing her wine. “She could teach you to live a little.”

“Don’t start, Lolls.”

She just sent Trace a pointed look. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to go out on the town. Have a beer. Do some…dancing.”

Keely patted her dad’s chest. “You should, Daddy. Dancing is the best!”

Shep choked on a laugh. “Your dad hasn’t been dancing in a long time. Maybe that’s why he’s so grumpy.”

She frowned at him. “Are you missing dancing? I’d be grumpy if I couldn’t dance.”

Trace covered his daughter’s ears. “I hate you all.”

“It’s not nice to hate, Daddy,” Keely yelled too loudly.

Nora shook her head as she carried a massive baking dish of lasagna to the table. “Fallon, will you get the salad?” She glanced at Shep, a hopeful glint in her eyes. “Is Anson able to make it?”

A little of the levity left his expression. “Not this time.”

Nora’s shoulders slumped, and my annoyance at the broody bastard flared. The idea of anyone being on their own, without people, would hurt her heart. But Anson wouldn’t care about that. He’d just be off in his sulky corner.

Lolli made a tsking sound as she carried her glass and the open bottle of red to the table. “Gotta get past that boy’s defenses. He’s too pretty to be wasting away all alone.”

I couldn’t help the scoffing sound that slipped past my lips.

Lolli sent me a pointed look. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed those muscles and piercing eyes.”

“Doesn’t make his personality any more charming,” I grumbled.

“Their personality doesn’t matter if their mouth is busy doing other things,” she said with a devious grin.

Keely’s face scrunched. “What would their mouth be doing? It’s rude to talk with your mouth full. Dad says.”

Trace pinched the bridge of his nose. “For the love of all that’s holy, will you all please rein it in before my girl gets expelled from the first grade?”

A chuckle slipped past Kye’s lips, then Fallon giggled. It only took a matter of seconds before laughter engulfed everyone. But I couldn’t help but remember the flicker of coldness in Anson’s gaze. Something that didn’t seem as if it had always been there. A coldness that something awful must have put there.