"Merry-golds?"
"Yes, and others, too."
"Daddy and me planted a bush once."
She'd forgotten that. Putting the pain in the past had cost her happy memories, as well.
"For Mother's Day, in the side yard, you two planted an azalea as a surprise for me."
"Yep, and Daddy made up one of his stories while we planted it." Her wistful voice mixed with Bo's music echoing up in the dark. "We had lots of fun doing that."
"I bet you did, punkin." She'd been so afraid of upsetting her daughter she hadn't allowed Kirstie to grieve and eventually find happy memories. Another wrong decision she'd made, but one she could rectify. "Would you like to go see that bush and the marigolds sometime?"
"Could we?"
She'd figure out a way to afford it if she had to cure all the cows in North Dakota.
"Everyone should have a summer vacation."
"Thanks, Mom." Springing up onto her knees, Kirstie hugged Paige's waist so tight, she struggled not to burst into tears. Kirstie flopped back and under the covers.
"We'll visit the house and all your old friends." And she could see Bo again.
The possibility stirred a flurry of butterflies in her stomach. Other than that brief fantasy about him getting out of the service, she hadn't allowed herself to think beyond sleeping with him, but they'd gone to see Sister Nic. And he hadn't hesitated about returning with her. That didn't sound like a man who was scouting for the door after a one-night stand.
However, even if they had a second night in their future, it wouldn't be now. Call her old-fashioned, but she couldn't see sleeping with him under her brother's roof, with her daughter in the next room. Even if it was half her roof, too, since technically fifty-percent of their parents' home and land belonged to her, as well. But her brother had been footing the bill for the upkeep for so long, she considered it his.
And it wasn't as if she could count on a secret encounter, since she and Bo were so darn noisy.
No sex tonight, and honestly, fear had sapped her. More than anything, she needed to be held, and lucky for her a strong set of arms waited outside on the porch.
Bo worked his hands across the familiar feel and strings of his guitar, music offering little comfort tonight. As if he wasn't already confused as hell about Paige, now that little girl upstairs had somehow crawled under his skin, too. The flight back to Minot had been the longest of his life. Even knowing Kirstie had been found didn't fully ease the kicked-in-the-gut feeling stronger than any enemy boot.
He kept thinking what could have happened to her. What may have happened to her.
Thank God there didn't seem to be any signs of abuse. Still he wanted to wrap her up in his protection.
Except she wasn't his, and if he let himself mull it over too long, he might envision himself as a part of a family. This family. Paige, Kirstie, him—another kid on the way and a dog to greet him at the front door.
A puppy—Honey—curled up alongside his foot, over six weeks old now, soon to go to a new home. Everyone here would move on after he left. Paige would find somebody to settle down with. Kirstie would have a secure life, just as he'd hoped to discover when he'd landed in Minot two weeks ago.
Except, he didn't want them to find someone else. He wanted a chance to explore the possibility that maybe he was that someone in their lives. No more bimbos and pretending to look for a real relationship.
Pretending?
Hell, yeah, pretending, going through the motions of searching for a wife, all the while picking women he would have never fallen for. Sister Nic had been right when she'd said he was close to understanding.
Which left him with a crapload more decisions to make.
The screen door creaked behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder to find...a weary Paige. Her hair had long ago given up on staying inside the rubber band. Her khaki skirt and all-white T-shirt carried travel-wrinkles, along with a coffee stain dribbled right between her br**sts from when her hand shook on the plane. And still he wanted her.
Way to go being a sensitive guy. The last thing she needed was him telling her...what?
That he wasn't sure how he felt, but he knew he felt more than he ever had before?
Better to keep the conversation safe and light. If ever a woman looked like she needed a laugh...
He set aside his guitar, propping it against the porch railing. "Is Kirstie okay?"