A Long Tall Texan Summer: Tom Walker (10 page)

A small commotion caught their attention.

Crissy came plowing through the crowd of people with Hunter right behind her.

“She's got a spinning reel,” Hunter told his parents in a wounded tone. "All you gave me was an old cane

pole with corks and sinkers and hooks!"

"It was my old pole," Jacob told him. "It's an heirloom!"

"I want my own spinning reel," Hunter muttered. "She's a girl and she's got one!"

"She's your cousin," Kate replied. "And you be polite, young man. Manners!"

"Yes, ma'am," he muttered, glaring at his smug little cousin. "I could catch a four-pound bass if I had a nifty spinning reel," he hinted, looking at his father for support.

Jacob sighed. "Okay, son, as soon as we get home we'll go right to the sporting goods store and buy one."

Hunter grinned. "Thanks, Dad!"

"You could have asked me to take you," Kate prompted. "I like to fish, too, you know."

"Thanks, Mom," Hunter said, moving close to his dad's side. "But this is a man sort of thing, you know?"

Kate had to smother laughter. She exchanged

a glance with Elysia. "He doesn't think women are the weaker sex, in case you're wondering," she explained. "But every once in a while, he plays with our neighbor's

son Buck and Buck's dad is a...well, how shall I put it?"

"A throwback to our more primitive ancestors?"

Jacob said helpfully.

She leaned against him. "Thank you, darling.

Yes, that's about the size of it." She looked down at Hunter. "Is Mommy the weaker sex, dear?"

"Heck, no!" Hunter said immediately. "My mom can shoot a shotgun," he said proudly. "And you should

see her on a horse!"

Kate made a victorious gesture, and all the adults laughed.

It was after everyone had gone, Kate and Jacob and Hunter on their way to the airport with Luke as
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chauffeur, that Crissy came up to Tom and gave him a loving smile. "We're a family now, aren't we, Mr.

Tom?" Crissy said heartily. "Now you get to be my daddy, and I get to be your own little girl, and you can just tell me everything about Indians."

"Everything I know, pumpkin," he agreed with a loving smile. He hugged her close with a sigh. "And I'm

very happy that you'll be my very own little girl. I promise to love you just as much as I love your beautiful mommy, too."

"Oh, I do love you...Daddy," she whispered,

and hugged him just as hard as she could.

His eyes closed on a mist that he had to blink away before anyone saw it. But they opened again and Elysia was there. He looked at her with fierce delight over his daughter's shoulder. And if she'd had one lingering doubt about his motives for marrying her, they were all gone in a rush of love. No man could look at a woman like that unless he loved her obsessively.

Tom had managed to get a willing Luke to take Moose to be boarded at the vet's while he and Elysia were still in Houston. But when Elysia and Crissy had moved into the house with Tom, he had grave misgivings about how it was going to work out. He hadn't had time to introduce Moose to his new family,

and he was going to hate having to give away the animal. He just knew that Moose was going to be too much of a headache for the other two members of his household.

But he brought Moose home and turned him out into the backyard anyway.

"Can I go play with him?" Crissy asked excitedly.

Tom hesitated. Moose was a happy, playful pup, but he was an elephant compared to the little girl.

"Go ahead," Elysia said, solving the problem,

"but be careful."

"Okay, Mommy!"

Tom watched her go out the back door. "We should watch her," he suggested. "I don't think there's a chance that he'd hurt her..."

A sudden scream and the sound of growling made their hearts stop. Tom raced for the back door, cursing himself for not having gone right outside with the child.

But the scene he expected to see wasn't what met his eyes. Crissy was standing beside the steps with her hands over her mouth, shivering.

A few yards away, Moose stood grinning

at them with a huge

dead rattlesnake in his mouth.

Crissy ran to Tom and Elysia. "Oh, Daddy, I didn't even see it! I didn't see it and it rattled, and Moose went right over and grabbed it! He saved me!"

Elysia hugged her little girl close, crying tears of relief. She looked toward Moose, who was playing with

the snake now.

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"If you ever try to get rid of that dog," she told Tom, "it's grounds for divorce."

He chuckled delightedly. "I'll remind you that you said that," he said, so proud of his dog and so relieved

over Crissy's well-being that he was almost euphoric.

Several weeks later, as he watched Moose drop something at Elysia's feet and then lay a guilty head on her lap in the living room and saw her wide-eyed shock, he was glad about the snake.

"You said he was worth his weight in dog bones," Tom reminded her quickly. "You said getting rid of him was grounds for divorce."

She looked up at her husband with her mouth open and then closed it, grimacing. With a sigh, she started stroking Moose's huge head.

Beside her lay the remnants of a beautiful lacy black bra, in elegant wet tatters.

"He likes you," Tom assured her. "He only eats clothes if he really likes the person."

"That's right, Mommy," Crissy said enthusiastically. "He ate my old orange socks, both of them! He likes

me a lot!"

Elysia and Tom exchanged resigned glances.

"He does kill poisonous snakes," Tom reminded

her.

She kept staring at him.

He raised both eyebrows. "Love me, love my dog?"

She burst out laughing. "I guess that says it all, doesn't it? Okay." She hugged Moose and then got up and hugged her husband, pausing to kiss him warmly before she retrieved the remnants of her lacy

underwear. "But if he eats my new maternity dress, he's had it."

"Your new...what?" Tom stammered.

She gave him a wicked grin. "Remember those herbs Hank Cade sent us from South Dakota?"

She

wiggled her eyebrows. "Guess what?"

Moose's enthusiastic barks were drowned out by Tom's cry of delight. He whirled her in his arms high in

the air and kissed her until his mouth was sore.

Crissy petted Moose's big head and sighed as she stared at the grown-ups. "They do that all the time,"

she told Moose. "I think it's silly, don't you?"

"Woof!" Moose replied.

"Come on, Moose, I'll give you a doggie biscuit. Honestly, adults are just the silliest people..."

Neither of the silly adults saw or heard them leave. They were in a world of their own, just for the moment, and it was too sweet for words.