Do You Take This Maverick?. Marie Ferrarella

least her grandmother sided with her, Claire thought.

      Or at least she hoped so.

       Chapter Four

      Holding a fussing Bekka in her arms, Claire went in search of her grandmother. Between feeling betrayed by her grandfather and being subjected to her baby’s incessant crying, her nerves felt as if they were stretched as far as they could go. She was beyond stressed out.

      “Come on, Bekka. Please stop,” she begged.

      Bekka went on crying.

      At her wit’s end, Claire finally found the object of her search in the kitchen. Melba was going over a menu change with the cook. Gina tapped the older woman on the shoulder and pointed behind her.

      The moment she realized that her granddaughter was there, Melba paused, telling the cook, “We’ll talk later.” With that, she waited for Claire to join her.

      “Is it true?” Claire asked without any preamble.

      “Is what true?” Melba wanted to know, peering over the tops of her rimless glasses at her distressed granddaughter. And then she smiled, tickling Bekka under her chin. “Hi, peanut,” she cooed.

      “I just found out that Grandpa rented out Jordyn Leigh’s old room to Levi,” Claire complained, referring to the young woman who’d moved out last month after marrying her longtime best friend, Will Clifton, a rancher from Thunder Canyon. They’d apparently tied the knot during the reception of the wedding she and Levi had attended last month.

      “Yes, I know,” Melba replied matter-of-factly with a dismissive shrug. She wasn’t exactly happy at inviting this turmoil onto her home turf, but maybe Gene was right. Maybe Levi should be given another chance to make things right between him and Claire. Her granddaughter certainly wasn’t happy with the current state of her marriage.