“When were y’all planning to head out?” Daddy forked a mouthful of pancakes.
“Saturday?” Karen and Sam’s voices blended together.
“That won’t work.” Thankfully. “I’d love to see Myrna, but we’ve had this big order at the store and I have to make sure everything gets shipped that morning. And our part-time employees have been pulling double shifts so we could complete the order. I told them they could have Saturday off as a reward. It’s always our busiest day, so we’ll have to both be here to run the store.”
“But we could still go.” Madison glanced from Daddy to Stacia. “Who’ll keep us if y’all are both at the store?”
“You can stay at the store with us.”
“That’s sooooo boring.” Mason rolled his eyes.
“No eye rolling.” She wagged a finger at him.
“We’d love to take the children with us. My folks would love it.” Karen closed her eyes as if savoring the idea. “It’s only an hour away. We could leave in the morning and be back by suppertime.”
“Pleeeeeaaaaase!” the twins begged.
“Now stop that.” Daddy checked his watch. “Speaking of the store, I better get to it.”
“I’ll go.” Stacia pushed her plate away and stood. “I’ll handle things there while you entertain our guests.”
“If you both need to go, we’ll be fine on our own.” Karen started picking up plates. “These two will be plenty of entertainment.”
“I can handle it. Thursdays aren’t usually very busy.” More than anything, Stacia wanted Daddy to stay and supervise.
“I’ll clean up.” Daddy tried to shoo Karen away from the table.
“But what about Saturday?” Madison pressed.
“We’ll think about it.” But right now, she needed to escape. To get away from the twins longing to meet even more family members, away from Ross, away from the threat of losing Mason and Madison.
* * *
Finished with the cattle, Ross hurried toward his apartment as the sun set. He’d enjoyed two days spent with his folks, the twins and Maverick. Yesterday, they’d hung around the ranch. Today, they’d taken the kids to the dude ranch in Bandera with Maverick.
Though Stacia worked the store both days, she’d been overly generous with letting them spend time with the twins. As if she thought she could ward off her imagined custody battle by letting his folks practically live at the ranch.
But truth be told, he’d missed her. How had she done it, wound herself into his heart, despite all his efforts of keeping her from it?
Inside, his parents waited for him.
“Hey. We’re just breaking and entering.” Mom chuckled. “Actually Maverick gave us a key. We’re all supposed to go to Bandera for supper, so we thought we’d give them a break from us for a bit until time to go.”
The first time they’d been alone since his parents had arrived. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell y’all about the kids.”
“It wasn’t really your place.” Dad’s tone was harsher than usual, a testament to how much Ron had hurt him. Hurt all of them.
“Your brother should have told us.” Mom held her hands up as if warding off argument. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re here now and we’ll have years to make up for lost time with our adorable grandchildren.”
“Are y’all okay with them staying with Stacia?”
“Of course.” Dad set his hat on the dresser. “Houston isn’t that far. We can visit back and forth.”
“I told her that, but she’s afraid y’all will sue her for custody.”
“Oh no, we’d never do that.” Mom shook her head. “I mean unless they were being neglected or mistreated. But they’re obviously happy and this is their home.”
“Maybe she’ll believe it if y’all tell her.”
“We most certainly will.”
“You really like her, don’t you?” Dad raised an eyebrow.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You don’t think she likes you?” Mom scrutinized him. “I think you’re wrong. There’s something in the way she looks at you.”
“She doesn’t trust me. I told her how I felt and she thought I was using her to get custody of the twins.”
“Well maybe once we tell her she can keep the kids, she’ll settle down and see the real you.” Mom patted his arm.
“Thanks.” Not likely. And he couldn’t go through the whole distrustful relationship again. Once was enough. “Have I got time to clean up?”
Dad checked his watch. “Twenty minutes.”
Ross took a quick shower and as he towel dried his hair after dressing, a knock sounded at the apartment door. When he stepped out of the bathroom, Stacia was there, just inside the open door as if she might need a hasty escape.
All the oxygen drained out of him at her presence.
“We’re still on for supper, right?” Mom asked.
“Our treat.” Dad tried to sweeten the pot.
“Yes. Daddy will be here with the kids soon. I wanted to come over a bit early. To ask—to beg.” Her eyes turned glossy. “Please don’t take them away from us. You can visit anytime you want. I realize Ron may change his mind on our custody arrangement, since he saw them, but I can’t lose them.”
“Oh honey.” Mom hugged her. “We’re not in the business of uprooting children.”
“If you can’t trust me on anything else,” Ross caught her gaze over Mom’s shoulder, “trust me on this. Though it pains me to say it, Ron has no interest.”
“Look at everybody getting along.” Maverick stepped inside the open door. “I’ve got two hungry Keyes children raring to go.”
Maybe getting to know his parents a bit tonight would appease her. If his folks could work out a visitation schedule, then after the day trip to Hondo, he and his parents could go back to Houston. Then deal with whatever damage there was and he could leave Stacia behind for good.
Maybe then he could repair the damage she’d done to his heart.
“Uncle Ross, your hair’s all flippy.” Madison giggled.
“That’s cause it’s wet, munchkin. We ready?” He scanned all the faces, but his gaze locked with Stacia’s.
“We can wait for you to dry your hair,” Mom said.
“I’m fine. Let’s go.”
“Can we all ride together?” Mason was obviously enthralled with his new
