Forever's Affection (Forever In Luck Series Book 3) (14 page)

“Here
you go sweetie, you want to sit at the table while I make us the soup?”

Junie
nodded and carried their sandwiches to the table.

“I
need to go out and work with Ricochet after we eat. You want to bring along
your crayons and some paper?”

“Okay,
I get
s
,s,sssome
,” she heard
Junie say from the other room.

A
few minutes later, she walked to the table and set their bowls down. “I have a
rodeo to work in a couple days. Do you want to come with?”

“Do
I half to
thay
in back? I don’t
yike
it in back.”

Dani
sighed. The rodeo circuit was like a little community of people, and you got to
know one another pretty well. There were always people and kids around, with
someone generally willing to help keep an eye on young ones, while a
performance or ride was going on. Thing was, this was the Great Lakes circuit,
and she’d always ridden in the Mountain States circuit. She was sure she’d know
a few, but not many, and she was just as nervous as Junie to be among
strangers. “Not this time if you don’t want to. Jules said you could stay with
her.”

“Okay.”

“Do
you want to stay here or see the rodeo?”

Junie
sat thinking about it. “Maybe go if
Kwith
taked
me.”

Great, just her luck.
Kind of surprising
how she’d taken to him considering how she’d hated the others. “I don’t know
sweetie, I don’t know that he’ll want to go, but you can stay with Jules and
we’ll see.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s
finish eating and go work with Ricochet, he’s gotten lazy.”

Junie
laughed. “We wake him up, we give him
tweats
.”

*****

One
week had gone by since he’d last seen Dani and Kris decided he’d waited long
enough. He had to try and see her, and felt like he couldn’t let more time go
by without things becoming more awkward than they already would be. Plus, he
needed to apologize for yelling at her. If nothing else he had to at least do
that.

It
had been a long week, giving her time and space to do the things she needed to
do, but his solace was that Linnie and Jules had been with her every step of
the way. Unfortunately, he knew little more than he did a week ago because
neither of them
were
talking, and he was miffed they
wouldn’t tell him what was going on. They just gave him reassurances that she
was seeing and talking to the right people.

Pulling
into the ranch, he looked around. Hmmm, he didn’t see her truck anywhere.
Grabbing the bouquet of flowers he’d bought for Dani and the stuffed koala bear
he’d picked out for Junie, he headed into the porch and knocked.
Nothing.
He knocked again.
Nothing.

She
wasn’t with Linnie or Jules, because they were both at home, so where would she
be? It would have to be Junie’s bedtime soon, so he’d wait. Heading to the
swing, he sat. Two hours later and with the last dregs of daylight having
dimmed, he went to his truck and found a pen and some paper. Going to the hood
of his truck, he began to write her a note when he realized he wasn’t sure how
she spelled her name, either version. Were there two N’s or two L’s or just
one? Damn. He knew she didn’t like terms of endearment either, so now what?
Score, he had it.

Dearest
Hen,

The
Rooster would like to apologize for crowing so loudly. He is very sorry, and
should have used their code word and left before he went cuckoo. The Rooster
promises to be more considerate towards the Hen, and wonders if she would let
him see her and her chick. The Rooster misses them both.
 

Setting
the flowers and bear down by the door, and then the note in front, he left,
hoping by some miracle she’d give him another chance.

The
next morning, Kris walked in the house and stopped dead in his tracks. Junie
was standing at the top of the stairs hugging the newel post of the staircase
with one arm and the koala bear he’d left for her in the other. Gosh she was
cute, with her two ponytailed puffs high on each side of her head, giving him
his favored vision of a little koala bear. Her little curls hung loose here and
there. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and his heart cheered.

“
Kwith
!” she said excitedly, starting down the stairs, one
step at a time, when she saw him.

She
reached for him and he snatched her up, hugging her tightly. Hell, he even gave
her a little kiss on the head. She smelled sweet. “How’s Junie today?” he asked
with relief, loving the chance to see her.

“She
good,” she answered, snuggling up to him.

Oh
man, he needed this. Carrying her, he headed up the stairs. “How’s your new
bed? You like it?”

She
nodded her head rapidly.
“Me
yike
,
Junie go sweep.”

Walking
in the kitchen, he looked around, no Dani. “Are you hungry, because we’re going
to have breakfast?”

She
nodded.

“We
should probably wash our hands, don’t you think?”

“Okay.”

Washed,
clean, and at the table, he sat in his chair. Junie climbed onto his lap and he
was aware of Jules doing her best to watch without laughing. She did smirk
though as she put food on the table. He supposed he deserved it, being arrogant
all these years when it came to girls and chick stuff. “Where’s Dani?” he
asked, ignoring the elephant in the room. Junie answered to his surprise.

“At
wook
.”

He
thought about it. At
wook
…at…work, maybe? “At work?”
he repeated, looking at Jules who nodded in response.

“Yes.
Well, getting ready for work, she needed to leave early this morning to get
ready. Linnie and I agreed to watch Junie for her. We need you guys in from
milking as early as possible so we’re not late.”

Okay,
what had he missed?
“Late for what?”

“The
rodeo, we have an hour drive to get there.”

So
today was that infernal rodeo. “
Ahh
, okay, so why do
we need to be in early?”

“So,
we’re not late,” Jules explained, like it made total sense. “It starts at seven
thirty.”

“Still,
don’t get it get it. Are you thinking of leaving Junie here?”

Shaking
her head with a smile, Jules answered amused, “No, we’re all going to the
rodeo, you need to come with.”

No
way, not going to watch that, he’d probably kill somebody. “I’m not going,” he
stated stubbornly in response.

“You
need to, because Junie’s afraid to go otherwise and will only go if you’re
there.”

Great.
He looked down
at the little girl on his lap and she smiled at him.

Patting
his cheek, she said, “We go thee
Nonny
.”

“Oh,
and there’s this,” Jules said, handing him a folded piece of paper.

Did
he really want to see this? Opening it up, he looked at it. Just three simple
little words were written. “HEN SAY YES.” Well, there was his answer, except
that he was back to crowing on the fence over her career choice. He didn’t
think he could do it, just sit idly by tonight knowing what was going on behind
the scenes. He felt himself getting angry all over again. Maybe there was no
helping Dani, maybe she was too far gone, or screwed up in the head as she
called it, and the only true hope was in helping Junie. He’d have to do it for
her,
he’d go and try for Junie.

“Where
is everyone? Have they come in from the barn yet?

“They’re
walking across the yard now,” Jules said, looking out the kitchen window over
the sink.

Folding
the note from Dani and sticking it in his pocket, he held Junie as she sat up
and tighten her grip on him when she heard his dad and brothers tromp in the
house talking loudly. Patting her back, he reassured her. “It’s alright, it’s
just my dad and brothers,
you’re
okay.” She didn’t
answer him. She simply lay against him watching the doorway with wide eyes.

His
dad walked in first and Junie let out a squeal, surprising them all. Stopping
abruptly, his dad looked at the two of them, leaving Jake and Nik to run into
him as they followed. Kris tightened his hold on Junie’s trembling body and
looked at her. Her eyes were as big as silver dollars. Rubbing her back, he
tried to soothe her. He heard Nik say something about needing a picture of this
and ignored it, because he was more concerned with Junie.

“Junie,”
Jules said softly, going over to his dad and touching his arm, “this is Kris’s
dad, you can call him Karl and this,” she reached and touched each of his
brothers, “is Kris’s brother Jake, and his other brother Nik. You can call him
Nik Nak, he loves it.”

Junie
gave a little yelp,
then
started smiling shyly from
ear to ear. Looking at Kris with childlike wonderment, she said in utter shock,
“You
wiv
with
Thanta
Cwauz
and Nik Nak
Paddywack
?”

Huh?
Wait…what was she saying? Looking over at the four of them, he realized she
thought his dad was Santa Claus given his larger stature and whitish hair and
beard, compliments of his Scandinavian roots. Kris started smiling. With that
mystery solved, his mind quickly went in search of the other and he instantly
heard the verse of an old nursery rhyme run through his head…Nik Nak
Paddywack
give a dog a bone, this old man goes rolling
home… Laughing a little, he turned back to her and said, “I do, and they’re
really fun to have around. You want to say hi to them?”

Hugging
him tight around the neck, she held up one hand. “Hi.
I
wath
my hand, thee?”

Smiling,
his dad stepped closer, and with a twinkle in his eyes said, “Very nice to meet
you Junie, you did a good job.” Then glancing at Kris and back, said, “I like
what I’m seeing.”

That
last part was meant for him, Kris knew it.

Junie
fell back against Kris in a near faint. Looking at him, she said in a whisper,
“
Thanta
knowed
my name.”

They
all got a big chuckle out of that. Everyone sitting to eat, Kris, pulled an
empty chair close to him and set Junie in it, dishing the two of them up as the
food was passed around. He could feel their eyes all over him. Oh well, let
them watch all they wanted, his focus was on feeding his little koala baby.
Making sure she had some milk in her kiddie sized cup, he said, “Let’s eat, I’m
hungry.”

Watching
her as they all sat talking and eating, he wondered what was going on in her
mind. Kneeling on her chair, she would take a bite of something,
then
start looking all around the floor and under the table,
then back for a bite of food, then back to searching the floor.

Interrupting
the flow, he touched her hand and said, “What are you looking for?”

Talking
ceased and his family listened.

“I
yooking
for
dog.”

“Okay,
what does your dog look like?”

Shaking
her head, she said, “Not my dog
siwee
, Nik Nak dog.”

He
laughed. “Nik Nak
Paddywack
, where’s your dog?”

Nik, joining in the fun, answered,
“Outside chasing his tail.”

Junie
sat straight up, her eyes going round.
“He
hungwy
.”
Jumping off her chair and getting her new
backpack, she opened it, taking out a little bag of bone shaped dog treats.
Walking over to Nik, she handed them to him. “Nik Nak
Paddywack
give
dog bone.”

Smiling,
Nik took the treats with a whistle. “Nice, thank you, he loves dog bones! You
sure you don’t want to keep some?”

Shaking
her head and smiling, she said, “We
thare
.”

“That’s
very nice, Junie,” his dad said, giving her a little wink.

Glancing
at him shyly, she smiled, then turned and ran back to Kris, crawling onto his
lap and wrapping an arm around his neck.

Kris
could explain it, but he loved that she came to him, not back to her chair, not
to Santa Claus incarnate, but to him. He didn’t get it, how is it he had not
wanted children? Well, he had at one time with Vannie, but then after, forget
it, wasn’t interested in the least. But now, he wanted it all, the whole deal,
and he wondered if things didn’t work out with Dani, if he’d still feel the
same way.

Pulling
her plate over, and onto his empty one, he said, “Time to eat, sweetie, let’s
finish up.”

“You
siwee
, I
not
feetie
, I
dumbthit
.”

Dead
silence abound. His family sat frozen looking at the two of them, and Kris
wasn’t sure, but he thought he might be having a seizure, because his head
started jerking and his eye started twitching. Not sure what to do, but feeling
like he had to do something, he cleared his throat, then cleared it again.
“June—” Whoa, he’d lost a vowel as his voice had gone tight and strained. She
must have picked up on it too, because she dropped her head and sat as frozen
as the rest of them.