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"I'll bet."
Rachel lifted her head and looked toward Cal, who was coming down the steps with his daughter tucked in the crook of his arm. He regarded her stonily.
"The coffee's ready in the kitchen," Jane said. "Let me see what I can scratch up for breakfast."
Rachel returned Cal's gaze for a moment, then took Edward's hand. "Thanks, Jane, but we need to go."
"But Mommy, Rosie's dad said I can have some of his Lucky Charms."
"Maybe another time."
"But I want some now. Can I? Please?" To her surprise, Edward turned to Gabe. Some of her son's wariness returned, and his voice grew smaller, his manner more cautious. "Please, Gabe?"
To her surprise Gabe reached out and rubbed his shoulder. It was a voluntary touch, and his voice held a note of tenderness that astonished her. "I think your mom's tired. How about if I buy you a box of Lucky Charms on the way home?"
She expected Edward to back off, but he didn't. Instead of pressing his case with her, he continued to speak to Gabe, and his wariness vanished. "But then I can't see Rosie put food in her hair. She does that, Gabe. Really… And I want to see it."
Gabe looked at her. "What do you say, Rachel?"
Rachel was so mystified by the change in their relationship that she didn't immediately reply, and Jane stepped in. "I know you're tired, Rachel, but you have to eat anyway. Let me fix you something before you go." With brisk determination, she swept her into the kitchen.
The men followed, silent and cautious. Edward, however, seemed unaware of the tension. He flew back and forth between Rosie, Gabe, and Cal, asking about Lucky Charms, Rosie's eating habits, and spinning an earnest story about his own babyhood when he swore a dinosaur had come to visit him in Rosie's room. The men were completely attentive to him, maybe because it kept them from having to deal with each other.
Rachel excused herself to use the powder room, where she freshened up as best she could, but with her bare feet and wrinkled old house dress, she looked like she should be traveling through Oklahoma with the Joad family instead of being entertained by the Bonners.
When she came out, Jane was opening a box of pancake mix, while Edward perched on a stool at the counter with a bowl of cereal and Cal fed oatmeal to Rosie, who was in her high chair. Gabe stood apart, leaning against the counter and cradling a dark-green coffee mug.
Jane glanced up from the box she was opening, then stared at Rachel's bare feet. "Did something happen to your shoes?"
Gabe glared at his brother and spoke before she could reply. "Odell confiscated them. She spent the night barefoot on that dirty concrete floor."
Jane shot Rachel a horrified look. Rachel lifted her eyebrow and, with a barely perceptible motion, shook her head. What was wrong with Gabe? That made his second lie this morning. Apparently he intended to make his brother suffer.
Jane bit her bottom lip and turned her attention to the pancake mix.
Cal immediately grew defensive. "I told them they had to take care of her, Gabe. Odell said he would." Rosie chose that moment to blow a happy raspberry, sending a shower of oatmeal at her father.
Edward piped up. "Rosie's mommy showed me her computer last night, and I got to see all these planets moving around, and she said they was part of the—uh—" He looked up at Jane and the familiar worried expression formed on his face. "I forgot."
She smiled. "The solar system."
"I remember."
Just then the front doorbell rang, and Cal jumped up to answer it. It was barely seven-thirty, too early for a casual caller, but as Cal's voice drifted into the kitchen from the foyer, Rachel soon realized the identity of the visitor.
"Where have you been?" she heard Cal say. "You were supposed to be in Knoxville, but the hotel said you weren't registered."
"Change in plans."
At the sound of Ethan's voice, Rachel regarded Jane glumly. "One more Mountie to Gabe's rescue. Aren't I just the lucky one?"
Gabe gave a mutter of disgust, slammed down his coffee mug, and headed toward the foyer as Ethan went on.
"We—I came back last night, but I didn't check my machine until half an hour ago. Kristy ran over to the jail as soon as she heard your message, and—Gabe!"
What had Kristy been doing at Ethan's so early in the morning? As Rachel pondered the implications, Jane gazed over at her, lines of worry etched in her smooth forehead. "I know you've been through a lot, Rachel, but for Gabe's sake, this really has to be settled."
"I suppose." Rachel took the wet paper towels Jane handed her and began cleaning up Rosie, who beamed at her. As the men's conversation continued in the hallway, Rachel planted a kiss on the baby's curls, then wiped up the tray. "Thanks for taking such good care of Edward. I was so worried about him."
