Page 14 of Texas! Lucky

At this time of day the sun bathed the pale walls with butter-colored light.

"Lucky, is that you?" his mother called through the rooms.

"None other. What's for breakfast?"

He entered the kitchen and was surprised to see Tanya, Chase's wife, sitting with him at the kitchen table. Small and blond, she perfectly complemented his tall, dark brother. Lucky liked Tanya immensely, and often teased her by saying that if she ever got smart and left his brother, he had first dibs on her. That would never happen. She was devoted to Chase, which was one of the main reasons Lucky liked her so much.

When he walked in, she gave him one of her sweet smiles, which turned into openmouthed gaping when he removed his sunglasses. His smile disfigured his face even more.

Laurie Tyler, attractive even in middle age, flattened her hand against her breasts and fell back a step when she saw Little Alvin Cagney's handiwork on her son's face.

"Good Lord, Lucky, we heard you'd been in another fight, but I didn't expect anything this bad. Did that Cagney brute do that to you?"

"Yeah, but you ought to see him," he quipped as he headed for the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Lucky blew on his coffee and looked at his brother through the rising steam. "Are you in another lousy mood today? It's not even time for me to be at work yet, and already you're on my case."

"Lucky, something's happened," Laurie said, laying a hand on his arm. Her eyes were a similar shade of blue, and almost as bright and youthful as her son's. Now, however, they were clouded with concern.

"Happened?"

Just then Sage came barreling through the back door. Here lately, Lucky was startled every time he saw his kid sister. She wasn't a kid any longer. Only a few weeks earlier they'd attended her graduation from the local junior college. Next fall she would be studying at the University of Texas in Austin.

She no longer looked like an adolescent. She was a woman. And it seemed she'd become one overnight.

"I was in the stable and saw his car pull in," she said breathlessly as though she'd been running. "Have you told him yet?"

"Told me what? What the hell is going on?"

"We had a fire last night," Chase said grimly.

"A fire?"

"In the main garage." Chase left his chair and went to the coffee maker to pour himself a refill.

"Jeez." Lucky suddenly felt nauseous. "I'm sorry I wasn't available. How bad was it? Nobody was hurt, I hope."

"No, nobody was hurt, but the building burned to the ground. Everything in it was destroyed."

Lucky dropped into a chair and dragged his fingers through his hair again. What Chase had told him was inconceivable, but the grim faces surrounding him confirmed that it was the truth. "How'd it start? What time did all this happen? Did they get it put out?"

"The first alarm came in about two-thirty. They fought the blaze till around four. It's out now. Hell of a mess though."

Chase returned to his chair across from his brother. Once he was seated, Tanya rested her hand on his thigh in a silent, wifely gesture of sympathy and support.

"Thank God we've kept up our insurance premiums," Lucky remarked. "As hard as it's been to rake together the cash for—" He broke off when he intercepted the exchanged looks that went around the kitchen. "There's more?"

Chase sighed and regretfully nodded his head. Laurie approached Lucky's chair as though she might, at a moment's notice, have to render maternal consolation. Tanya stared down at her hands.

Sage was the one who finally spoke up. "There's a whole lot more. Who's going to tell him?"

"Be quiet, Sage."

"But, Mother, he's got to find out sooner or later."

"Sage!"

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