Cricket did, indeed, get Josiah’s drift, and considered herself well warned.
Chapter Two
Jack hesitated outside his father’s door, realizing he was the topic of conversation between the pretty deacon and his father. He heard his father sneakily trying to get Cricket to romance him; he heard Cricket backing away from the idea and offering up her services as Martha Stewart instead. Part of Jack wanted to snicker at his father’s failed attempt at matchmaking, the other part of him was seriously annoyed Pop couldn’t just give the whole family-expansion thing a rest. But that was typical of the old man. He couldn’t be happy knowing he had a chance to get well. It had to be the family and kids and happily-ever-after for Pop—as if Jack and his brother’s had ever had that for one single day in their lives.
Thankfully, the good deacon was too angelic for Jack—and too crafty for Pop. Still, it shocked him that Pop thought the deacon had the hots for him. Then again, Pop was entitled to a delusion or two.
“Josiah, I’ll play cards with you, but only if you quit sipping out of that bottle,” Jack heard Cricket say. “Because if you don’t quit, you’ll be too relaxed to tell Jack that you don’t want his silly old kidney.”
Jack leaned close to the door, amused by Cricket’s coddling.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Josiah said.
“And the liquor will skew the blood tests,” Cricket said practically. “It will mess up your medication, and the next thing you know, you’ll be at Jack’s mercy.”
“You have a point.” There was silence for a long while. “I do not want to be at anyone’s mercy.”
“Of course you don’t. Who does?”
“Not me, durn it. Toss this bottle into your purse and take it home to the ranch for me, would you? Store it in my liquor cabinet.”
“I will. It’ll be waiting safe and sound for your return.”
“And when will that be? C’mon, Deacon, I want you to spring me from this place.”
“Aren’t you happy here? You seem to be getting plenty of attention from the ladies,” Cricket said, her tone soothing.
“My heart is already taken,” Josiah said. “Anyway, I was hunting for a girl for Jack.”
“When I saw him ride in January, there was a rumor going around that your son has all the female attention he wants,” Cricket said. “Let’s just focus on you.”
“Was he any good at rodeo?” Josiah asked. “I’ve never seen him ride.”
“He was average,” Cricket said.
Jack straightened. Average! That day he’d placed first with his highest score, the best ride he’d ever had.
“Oh,” Josiah said. “I was kind of hoping he was good at the one thing he’s chased all his life.”
“Well,” Cricket said, “some men are late bloomers.”
Jack blinked. The woman was crazy! She didn’t know what she was talking about. He hadn’t been a late bloomer at anything.
“Later on, Jack mentioned he was considering giving up rodeo,” Cricket said, her tone serene. “Let me see…what did he say he was going to do?” Jack strained, listening to the deacon spin her incredible yarn.
“Oh,” Cricket said, “I remember. He said he’d decided to go into ranching. And do a little math tutoring at the high school. Did you know he got a college degree by correspondence course?”
“He did?” Josiah demanded.
I did? Jack mouthed.
“Yes,” Cricket said. “From what I could tell, he’s very smart and a huge believer in education.”
“That makes me very happy,” Josiah said. “I wish I’d known all this so that I could have told him how proud I am when he was visiting me. I didn’t have a chance,” he said sadly. “We always seem to get into a fight right off the bat.”
“Oh,” Cricket said, “Fathers and eldest sons do that.”
“They do?” Josiah said.
“Sure. And eldest daughters sometimes scrabble with their mothers. I argued a time or two with mine. And my brother.” Jack heard cards being shuffled. “Anyway, you can tell him how proud you are tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Josiah said, sounding happy. “I can. And you know, if he really wants to go into ranching, his brothers have started a new breeding business between them. They’d probably really appreciate the help. Heavens knows I’ve got the land. In fact,” he said, lowering his voice so that Jack had to really bend an ear to hear, “it’s time for me to rewrite my will.”
“Oh, dear,” Cricket said, “let’s play Twenty-one and not think about wills, Josiah.”
“Are preachers supposed to know how to play cards?” Josiah demanded.
“It’s either this or dice. Pick your poison, sir.” Jack heard the sound of cards being slapped down on a table.
“I’m going to have to divide up the ranch, you know,” Josiah said. “Last month I realized I was going to have to leave Jack out. But maybe I’ve just misunderstood him.”
“Most likely,” Cricket said.
Jack frowned. Why was the deacon cozying up to his father on his behalf? She wasn’t very honest for a cleric—she was a pretty face who told outrageous fibs. Too bad she was such a storytelling wench; she’d almost had him believing all that sweetness she was peddling. Almost. But now he knew Cricket was a woman who would say anything to get what she wanted.
He wasn’t sure what Cricket wanted, but he’d know soon enough. Everybody had a price. Except him, of course.
She came out the door suddenly and squashed his toe on purpose. “That’s what you get for eavesdropping,” she whispered. “You’re going to have to think fast to keep up with your old man, cowboy. Let’s see if you can do that, okay?”
Then she popped him on the arm like he was no more than a baseball-playing buddy, tossed her enormous handbag over her shoulder—Pop could have fit a case of whiskey in that thing—and headed off, looking remarkably like a tall, but still cute Audrey Hepburn.
Jack stared after her. That was one pain-in-the-well-worn-butt woman. And unfortunately, she had the asset Jack most appreciated on a female—a very sassy derriere.
Somehow that was even more annoying.
J OSIAH LEFT the hospital that night. Jack wasn’t really surprised when he got the call. He would have done the same. Jack figured if anybody was like him, it was the old man. Pop wasn’t going to be a burden, and like his sons, he knew how to hit the escape hatch.
It was up to him to fetch his father. This wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world because Pop didn’t want his life extended by taking something from Jack. Pop would consider this gesture sacrilegious, wasteful and downright wrong.
He couldn’t blame his father. Since they hadn’t spoken in over ten years, Josiah had every right to his feelings. It was bad luck that only Jack was the perfect donor match, which he’d found out after being tested—something he did only after Laura, Gabe’s nurse wife, left a message for him at a local rodeo that they were running out of options with Pop. It had been a warning, not a solicitation for help. Still, Jack had felt a curiosity and an obligation to find out if he was an eligible donor. Quietly, he’d had the testing done—and bad luck as always, the prodigal son was the “perfect” match. It was the only time in his life he could remember someone using the word perfect to describe something about him.
He was going to have to go find Pop, somehow