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I hadn’t realized what I’d said before the words tumbled out of my mouth. I turned my head and looked up into her face from my position on the floor, noticing the look in her eyes.
“If that’s what you want, I mean.” More kids. A future. A legacy.
With me.
She smiled, a soft blush coloring her cheeks.
“I did say I was going to stay, didn’t I?” She smiled, then disappeared through the door and out into the yard.
* * *
“Does Mama know about this?” Day asked between bounces as he jumped on the twin mattress I’d had delivered only an hour ago. I looked down at the instruction manual fanned out in front of me, a screwdriver in my hand.
“What the hell…” I hissed to myself, turning the manual upside down and squinting at it before blowing out my breath and unscrewing the bolt I’d just secured. “No, she doesn’t. I gave her some tasks to keep her busy so she won’t bug us.”
“Lots of people are scared of Mom,” he panted, bouncing again, “but you’re not!”
“Your mother doesn’t scare me in the slightest,” I lied, giving him a playful look before turning back to the daunting, damn near impossible task of building his future bedframe.
Day didn’t know this was going to be his room yet. I’d sent some of the farmhands into town to pick out some paint and curtains, and another truck was going to get here within the next few hours with the bookshelves and desk I’d ordered from the next town over.
Moira had no idea. I wanted to keep it that way until I was done doing what I needed to do to make sure they were comfortable, even if that meant bending the knee to Day’s request for electric blue walls and curtains with rockets printed on them.
“Mama says your friends are going to visit,” he said, his face getting a little red from exertion as he continued to bounce up and down, “for the big party this weekend.”
“Yep,” I replied, flipping a page in the manual. “And they’re picking up a special surprise on their way here.”
“What is it?” he squealed, which made the little furball in the hamster purse beside the mattress startle and make a surprisingly similar noise.
“I can’t tell you, because you’ll tell your mom, and then I’ll be in huge trouble.”
It was true, Moira was going to be pissed about the fireworks I’d ordered for the Fourth of July party coming up this weekend, but I was looking forward to it. Day was going to go nuts.
“I invited some families from town that have kids your age, you know,” I said after a moment. Day flopped down on the mattress, panting. “Maybe you can make some friends.”
“I don’t like making friends,” he answered with childlike innocence. “I don’t like saying bye when we have to move again.”
“I don’t think you’re going to be moving for some time, kid,” I said through gritted teeth as I yanked another bolt loose, cursing under my breath. “This is impossible.”
“But if the bad guy comes here, we’ll have to move,” Day argued. “Mama always has to move to get away from him.”
“If the bad guy comes here,” I shot back, a screw pinched between my lips. “My friends will take care of it, okay? That’s how we do things in Montana.”
Day giggled, picking at the seams along the side of his mattress.
“Are you gonna make Mama a room next?” he asked, his attention diverting to a new topic. I was thankful for it.
“Well, here’s the thing, Holliday.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
Moira
It was obvious Grant was trying to keep me busy. I crumpled up the list of “tasks” he’d given me for the day, mostly to get me out of bed and out of the house. Packing up the bunkhouse had been one of them, but the list went on and on and on until the tasks became things like “pick five wildflowers” and “find a really round rock” and “try to get George to laugh.”
I finally just threw the list away and went out into the pasture on a nice, long walk. The horses were out grazing in the grass, and in the distance, I could just see the herd of cattle George and Grant had moved back into field where the creek now lazily wove into the once-barren ravine.
The EPA would be here in a week to make sure everything was up to snuff. I wanted that A on the report so badly, and I could almost taste victory as I noticed new grass beginning to blanket the side of the distant ravine.
