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She stood. He went to her. Pulled her close against him. “Hey, how are your…sisters?”
He studied the collection of beautiful Talley women. Really looked at these new sisters of hers. That teenage one was definitely a mini-Dusty. She’d break hearts one day—when she finally grew into her demoness powers, too. The one in glasses was a beautiful girl, too. No denying she was Arthur Talley’s daughter—any more than Miranda and Meyra Talley could ever deny their own father. The little feisty one was right there, curled up in a cushioned chair—fast asleep, her arm in a sling, and the bloodied sleeve of her shirt cut away. Her feet didn’t even touch the floor. She had cartoon characters on the side of her tennis shoes.
Prince Rufus and Wonkus McBubbles.
How ironic.
“Dylan was shot,” Dixie said. “But it was a minor wound. Entrance and exit. She said it makes her holy now. Sore from being run off the road, too. They all are. She’ll be okay. They’ve given her something for the pain. Apparently, she’s a bit susceptible to drugs. She’s been out for a while.”
“She always has been,” the mini-Dusty said. “She was sick a lot as a baby, too. She was a preemie.”
She looked right at Fletcher. Looked his brother straight in the eye. “She’s really sorry about your truck, Mister. But…Dylan thinks she has to take care of us, you know. And she did. She got Devaney back. We’ll find a way to pay you back for the damage when we can.”
Fletcher turned a bit red. Ben knew the truth. His brother wouldn’t make these girls pay for that damned truck. Hell, Ben would pay for the repairs himself, if needed. This little Dylan was Dusty’s sister, after all.
“They are doing X-rays on Devaney,” Dusty said. “The men who took her…kicked her and punched her, among other things. They are ruling out broken ribs now.”
Devaney was one of the twins. Probably around twenty-one or so. Ben fought the anger.
“Once Devaney is discharged,” Gerald said. “I will be taking my nieces back to the inn.Allof my nieces. I just may need a few volunteers to make that happen.”
The twin shot him a frightened look. Gerald could be intimidating, that was for sure. “We don’t have enough money to go to the inn, Mist—Uncle Gerald. Dylan is the only one who has a job. But it’s only part-time while she is in school. Our dad didn’t know about it, either—she does it all online. We really…need to know where our dad and mom are right now, so we can figure out what to do next.”
“Sweetie, you don’t ever need money to stay at the inn. It is your home, too. No matter what,” Flo said firmly. The two girls just stared at her—warily. They were so afraid. It broke a man’s heart to see. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. When all of you girls can sit down together. I promise. For tonight, we’re going to take you to the inn. You’ll be okay there. And safe. I promise. No matter what.”
“We need to figure out what to do about the hospital bill, and about Dylan’s car, and…and…” The teenager was close to panicking. That was hard to miss.
Dusty went to her. Wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “It’ll be okay. I promise. It’ll all be okay. It’s over now, Dorie. I promise. It’s over and you’ll all be okay.”
Dusty just held her while she cried, wrapping an arm around the twin in glasses as well. They had a long way to go until they had it all figured out. But they’d get there. Eventually.
76
Fletcher felt like a fool—andlike a bully. Maybe it was that the one sisterlookedlike a smaller version of Dusty that was doing it. He’d been angry at Dusty in the past before, of course, but never had she looked at him like she was afraid of him or anything like that kid had.
He’d looked at his truck in the parking lot of the inn before he’d caught a ride with Gil and Ben to the hospital to get Dusty. It hadn’t been damaged that badly. Not enough for it to be worth scaring a teenager.
But now…her older sister…
She was around nine years younger than he was, butshewasn’t a kid like her sister. In spite of the child-size shoes and overalls. She had to face consequences for her actions. But, hell, he would have done the same thing to help Nikki or Dusty—or Gil, Sage, and Ben, for that matter. Or one of his cousins.
But something about that woman got under his skin damned fast. Maybe it was the unrepentant way she’d smirked at him and insulted him and everything. In front of everyone.
He stayed next to the waiting room door while they waited for the fourth sister. Or the eighth? He looked at the pain-in-the-ass one. The chair dwarfed her. She didn’t seem to have a coat. Her shirt was missing one sleeve now. He could see the bandages. She had to have been scared out there.
Dixie covered her with a blanket, fussing like Dixie always had done when she was worried. It seemed like the Talley girls were just sort of absorbing their younger sisters, at least for the night.
Rather like the Tylers had absorbed Bruce’s missing daughters. Talley and Tylers—really weren’t all that different. Not when it came tofamily.Except the Talleys were mostly beautiful women. No denying that. The new sisters were beautiful women.
All four of them.
Even the little truck thief right there.
He could just imagine what was going to be said around town now. When it got out there that Arthur Talley hadfourmore gorgeous daughters. Gossip was going to go crazy over them. The diner would be inundated with guys, ready to check out these four. There were twice as many single men in Masterson County as there were women, after all.
These four were going to be swarmed, as beautiful as they were. Even that one.
Fletcher looked at her, trying to be objective about it. She was a beautiful woman, really. Just small.
