Forever's Affection (Forever In Luck Series Book 3) (12 page)

Dani
nodded. “She’ll see one, just not right now.”

He
had never felt so helpless.
“Home then?”

Dani
nodded,
then
answered, “Please.”

A
half hour later they were pulling into the ranch and up to the house.

“How
about you take her in and show her around, while I carry everything in?”

Sitting
up, Dani turned to him. “Thank you,
Kris,
I really
appreciate your understanding in all this.”

She
couldn’t be serious. He must be a better actor than he thought. “Yeah, I don’t
know about understanding, but this sure isn’t her fault and she shouldn’t have
been made to suffer.”

She
nodded with understanding. “I totally agree. It’s hard to comprehend, I know.”

He
snorted with disgust. That was an understatement. “Let her see Coco, then take
her inside.”

After
carrying everything in and putting away the perishables, Kris went through the
storage compartment in the bed of his pickup and found the tools he needed to
assemble the bed. Back inside, he looked over the directions and got started.
From the sounds of it, Dani was showing Junie a book while she took a bath. Why
hadn’t they gotten her some bubble bath? Some ribbons for her hair? He had to
of gone off the deep end, because he was seriously contemplating driving back
to Walmart to get more stuff.

The
bed nearly assembled, the two emerged, Dani holding a freshly washed and
squeaky clean Junie, ringlets and all. She was wearing a pink nightgown with a
white pony on it. He let out a whistle when he saw her. “Well now, don’t you
look all ready to sleep in your new bed?” Junie smiled and nodded, and he
wished he could tuck her in.

“You
want to help me make up your bed?” Dani asked. “Or sit on the floor while I do
it?”

Leaning
over, Junie reached for him and he felt like a hero. Taking her, he wrapped her
in his arms and gave her a little squeeze as she snuggled up close. They
watched as Dani made up the bed with new sheets, a comforter, and a pillow. Why
hadn’t they gotten her some stuffed animals? He wanted to kick himself. They
should have gotten her something to hug.

“Alright,
all done,” Dani said with a smile. “I hope you like it. You ready?”

Junie
smiled and nodded.

“Okay,
come on then,” she encouraged Junie excitedly.

Letting
go of him, Junie slid out of his hold, padded across the room, grabbed her
tattered backpack and took it with her as she crawled into bed and covered up.
Everything she had in the world was in that backpack, he thought, and he felt
himself boil with anger he was so damn mad.

Dani
stepped to the bed to tuck Junie in. Grabbing his tools, he headed outside to
try and cool off. Standing there, not able to go back in, he contemplated
leaving, but decided he was so upset by all this he’d stay and demand some
answers. Leaning against his truck, he waited, and waited, and waited, and
waited. Finally, she came out and…and…she was smiling! That did it, he felt
himself snap.

*****

Staying
with Junie until she was asleep, Dani was still in shock she was there with
her. It shouldn’t come as a surprise given her mother’s track record, but it
was just that she’d pretty much figured she’d never get Junie back. If there
were such things as the best days of someone’s life, today would be one of
hers, along with the day Junie came into her life.

She
needed to check on Kris and thank him for everything. Without him, she’d have
never made it to the airport. She didn’t know how he would take to Junie, but
he’d been wonderful to both of them. He was upset, he’d pretty much made that
clear, and she was too, but she was more thankful to have Junie safe with her,
that her happiness overshadowed everything else.

Looking
around, she saw him standing outside, leaning against his truck in the glow of
the yard light, and she took a moment to really look at him. He was a big man,
not overweight, but tall. Six-four she’d bet, with really wide shoulders, and
when flexed, he had boulders for biceps. He was long in the waist and narrow in
the hips, and he’d been right when he’d said that next to him she was small.
She’d never felt small in her life, and she had to admit she liked it. He had a
strong jaw, with a dusting of whiskers that matched a head of brown hair, and
then there were his eyes, dark brown and intense. A little shiver went through
her.

She’d
never liked men looking at her, but she’d gotten used to it and simply avoided
them at all costs. But ever since the deal with Deegan, she absolutely hated
when men looked at her, so much so, she went out of her way to be unattractive
in all manner and look. But with Kris, it was like he only saw what was on the
inside, and didn’t care about the outside one bit. How scary was that? It made
her knees weak, because if he only knew he’d be shocked.

Pausing
to take a deep breath, she thought of kissing him on the swing. He had the
softest lips, and it had surprised her because until that moment she hadn’t
remembered a thing about a man’s lips. She just knew in the moment that her
lips touched his, they were different. They weren’t tough, or thin, or hard and
scratchy, they were soft and smooth, and they were nice. Smiling, she headed
out the door. “Kris, thank—”

“How could you do that to her?
How?” he barked
angrily as he stood up.

She
was stunned by his level of contempt. “What?”

He
glared at her furiously. “She’s your own flesh and blood for
chrissakes
, and after everything you’ve been through, how
could you let her be with that woman?”

Slowing
her approach, she responded with the hurt his words brought, “I, I didn’t have
a
choi
—”

His
eyebrows dropped over angry eyes, as his voice lowered. “We all have choices,
Dani, don’t give me that bullshit. It was your job to keep her safe!”

He’d
interrupted her again! “I tried,” she defended. “I—”

“Oh,
like you’re trying to keep her safe by going back to the old business,” he
responded with a sneer. “You need to try harder. What if you get hurt or
killed? Huh? Who’s going to take care of her then?
Huh, who?”

Okay,
she would calmly try one more time. “I do what I have t—”

“Oh
ho, I just bet you do—”

That
did it. “Don’t you judge
me!
”

“Judge
you? Judge you? Dani I’m trying to knock some sense into you. Walmart’s hiring
you know, we could get you an application.”

Now
he acted like she was the one being offensive, incredible. “Don’t do me any
favors,” she snapped.

“That’s
it? I’m concerned for the two of you and you tell me no thanks. News flash,
Danielle Reed, not happening,” he said with determination.

“You
need to leave,” she demanded. No more men, none. She had to remember she was
done with them. Yep, over and done with, and that was final.

He
threw his hands up and turned from her, grabbing the lip of the pickup bed, he
braced his arms straight out and stood shaking his head in disbelief.
“Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.
You’re going to
jeopardize everything and take the two of you right back there.
Great, just great.
So that’s it, that’s all you have to say,
‘You need to leave?’” He turned his head and looked at her with anger and
frustration.

Glancing
around, she thought about it. Looking at him with sadness, she felt the all too
familiar feeling of loss and regret. Looking away before entering the house,
she said the only thing her empty, hollow self could. She said, “Goodbye.”

*****

Storming
into the farmhouse after having sped away from the ranch, Kris was relieved to
see lights were still on and his family still awake. Bounding up the stairs, he
headed into the kitchen, stopping just as he stepped inside.

“Kris,
what’s wrong?” Linnie asked in surprise and with concern in her voice.

Falling
into a chair, he didn’t know what to say or where to start. Hell, he’d wanted
to talk with his family so bad, and now that he could, he realized that in
doing so he’d be violating the trust and confidence Dani had placed in him. Honestly,
who was more important here, Dani or Junie? He warred with
himself,
shouldn’t his primary focus be on Junie? After all Dani was an adult, whereas
Junie wasn’t. Junie needed the protecting.
Right?

Except
that every time his brain answered the question with one name, his heart
answered with two. If he were honest, this was about the most helpless and
hopeless he’d ever felt in his life, and he’d had a few struggles, what with
his mom’s unexpected death and Vanessa’s betrayal. But this took the cake.

“Son,
what’s going on?”

 
Hearing his dad’s voice
helped ground him.
“I don’t know what to say or where to begin.”

“How about at the beginning?”

He
nodded and closed his eyes, swallowing before beginning. “Okay…okay…for
starters I want to thank you for everything you’ve ever done for us, and…” He
lost his momentum.

Clearing his throat, his dad answered,
“Thank you, I appreciate that.
Kris, it appears something has
happened. As you’ve been spending time at the ranch, I’m wondering if Dani’s
alright.”

His
head fell back and his eyes landed on an old plaque that had hung on the wall
his entire life. It read, God Bless This Family. Dropping his head, he stared
and fiddled with a napkin he found in front of him. “I don’t know. I mean, I
just left her place, she’s there and she’s alive, but she’s into something bad,
and…and I think she’s being exploited. I don’t know how much of it is a
willingness on her part, as opposed to out and out coercion, but…but she has a
child, and something isn’t right. I’m concerned, very concerned, for the two of
them, and when I tried to talk to her, she basically told me she doesn’t need
my help and to leave.” Surprise, surprise, it was Nik who started in.

“We
are still talking about the nut buster of a woman who knows her way around a
whip, the one that sat here eating breakfast with us, right?”

Staring
at the table, he nodded.
“Yep, the very same one.”

“How
do you know she has a child?”

He
grunted and looked at all the faces around the table. “I just came from the
airport where we picked her up. By all appearances, Dani wasn’t expecting her,
and for reasons I can only imagine, Dani’s mom had her and stuck her on a plane
all by herself and sent her here without telling Dani till the plane was
practically ready to land.”

“What?
How old is she?” Linnie asked in surprise.

“Four,”
he ground out, feeling
himself
getting pissed all over
again.

Eyes
popped open around the table, and Linnie sought verification. “Excuse me, did
you say four, as in four years old…on a plane…by
herself
,
and Dani didn’t know?”

Leaning
back, he rubbed his face, trying to rid himself of the tension that was
building. “
Yep,
and something’s not right. She was
real happy to see Dani and talked a little when we first picked her up, but
then she just sat there quiet as a mouse, never uttering a peep. She clung to
Dani and wouldn’t let her put her down. She asked Dani if I was a nice man and
Dani said I was. Junie wanted me to hold her, clearly scared and insecure when
Dani had to put her down. She clung to one of us the whole evening, and it just
gets worse from there. The child’s been neglected and she has a pretty severe
speech impediment.”

“And
you say you talked with Dani and she doesn’t want help?” his dad asked, looking
at him directly.

“Yep,”
he said with a snap. “We got into a bit of an argument over it, actually”

Now
it was Jules’s turn. “Oh boy, what did you say?”

“I
told her she had an obligation to keep Junie safe and encouraged her to get a
respectable job that did just that. But nope, she’s going back to what she
knows how to do. I clearly pointed out that she could get herself killed and
then asked her who’d take care of Junie then. You know what her answer was? She
told me not to judge her, that she does what she has to, and that she has no
choice in the matter.”

“Kris,
how into this woman are you?” Linnie asked.

Letting
out a bark of laughter, Kris sat thinking,
then
shook
his head. “You know, this is so ironic, so incredibly, pathetically ironic.
This deal with Dani should be right up my alley, but it’s not, and knowing that
men will be treating her the way I’ve treated others is just, well,
unbelievable. God, I feel like such an ass. After the deal with Vannie, I’ve
had no desire for anything serious with a woman, none, absolutely none, until
now.”

“Why
now, what’s so different about this one?” Nate asked.