Megan's Hero (The Callahans of Texas Book #3): A Novel (10 page)

“An indulgence from a couple of weeks ago. I was so hungry for fries that I just couldn’t help myself.”

“Aren’t pregnant ladies supposed to crave ice cream and pickles?”

“For me it’s French fries and ice cream, though not together. Sometimes I’d give anything for a bowl of Blue Bell orange swirl.”

“But you haven’t had any,” he said quietly.

“I gave in last week and bought a pint. Since I was living in the van, I had to eat the whole thing at once.” She smiled up at him. “I enjoyed every bite, but I need to eat healthy.”

And she couldn’t afford frivolous things. Will made a mental note to pick up a good supply of orange swirl ice cream.

“Do you know of a junkyard that will buy the van?”

“There are some in Abilene that should. I’ll give them a call tomorrow if you want. After I saw it, I didn’t check with the high school kids about fixing the body. The inside is ruined too. It needs more work than they can handle.”

“It would be a waste of money to try to repair it.” With a resigned expression, she looked away from the destroyed vehicle. “Is that the bunkhouse?”

When he nodded, she turned and walked through the tall, natural grass toward the one-story, rectangular building. He caught up with her in two steps.

“Selling it for scrap would give me a little cushion while I look for work in Abilene. I could also make my first payment toward what I owe you.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” When she started to protest, he held up his hand. “Not until after you have the baby and are settled in somewhere with some money coming in.”

They walked onto the long bunkhouse porch, and he opened the door, stepping back so she could enter first. “We spread things out so they’d dry. Most of the clothes are just dirty, no glass slivers. Probably because the suitcases were sucked out of the car before they burst open.”

“That’s something to be thankful for. I don’t know how to get glass out of cloth.” She smiled when she saw the blue sweater. “Emily said Chance retrieved it from the tree. That must have taken a bit of ingenuity.”

“Not much. He just stood in the pickup bed and stretched real tall.”

“My cookbooks and recipes!” She hurried over to a plastic tub and opened the lid. “And they didn’t get wet. I could live without them, but I’m so glad I don’t have to. You rescued the mixer and most of my baking equipment. I couldn’t bring everything with me, especially all the pans. There just wasn’t room.”

“I didn’t find any of it. Chance and Nate had already collected everything by the time I got home from town. Is this most of your things?”

They’d left the photo album of the cakes and desserts at the ranch house so his mom could see them. She’d given it to Megan when they brought her home from the hospital.

“There are some clothes missing, but not a lot.” She walked slowly around the room, touching a blouse here, a pair of dressy pants there. “There were a few towels and washcloths, two pillows, and a light blanket.”

“I tossed those because they were full of glass.”

Nodding, she picked up a slinky black shoe with a two-inch heel. “Just one?”

“Sorry, they didn’t come across the other one.” He figured she’d worn those shoes with the little black dress lying on the other end of the table. When she wasn’t pregnant and could fit in it again, she’d be a knockout in that simple little number.

She stopped beside another covered plastic tub, resting her hand on it. “My business and tax records. That’s a relief. I doubt if I’ll ever need them, but I could just imagine what the IRS auditor would say if I told him a tornado ate them.”

Will laughed with her, then picked up the tattered teddy bear and held it out to her. “So they found most of the important stuff?”

She took the bear and held it close, a tear slipping from one eye. “Yes, they did. There’s nothing missing that can’t be replaced.” Looking down at the stuffed toy, a tiny frown creased her forehead. “How did Bear get picked up by a tornado and not come out a dirty mess?”

Will rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. “He took a bath.”

Amusement replaced her frown. “He took a bath? Will Callahan, did you wash this thing?”

“Yes, ma’am. He was soaking wet and muddy, so I figured a little more water couldn’t do any more damage. He still looks pretty scruffy, but he’s clean.”

“Mom bought him at a garage sale. He’s always been ratty-lookin’.”

“But loved,” he said quietly.

“Yeah. He’s good at keeping secrets.”

He wondered what Megan had shared with her fuzzy little friend. “When I was little, my secret-keeper was a stuffed horse. I switched to a real one when I got older. He talked back sometimes, but he never spouted off to anybody else.”

“That’s good. If he’d been gabby, Chance could have blackmailed you.”

“He did that occasionally anyway, as I did him.”

As they started to leave, she paused and glanced around the room. “It’s a tremendous relief not to have lost everything.”

“We already had too many people here in that situation after the fire. I’m very glad you aren’t another.”

“Your mom told me some about it this morning. It must have been horrible.” Still clutching the bear, she headed toward the door.

He opened it for her and followed her out. “It was the most frightening day and night of my life. I pray I never have another one like it.”

When they returned to the ranch house, he rested his hand lightly at the small of her back and guided her toward a group of big wicker chairs and a couple of wicker rockers on the wraparound porch. “Is it too hot for you to sit out here for a bit?”

“I’m fine.” She sat down in one of the rockers and laid the bear on a small table. “It’s so quiet and peaceful here.”

He took the chair nearest her. “A big change from the city.”

“Yes, but I’m used to the city. I’ve always lived in town.”

“Where besides Austin?”

“We moved around a lot but settled in San Angelo when I was eight.”

Another lead for the investigator. Will was tempted not to share the info with his dad, but he knew he would.

“Dalton is moving out of the camp house tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Jenna and Lindsey were talking about it this morning.”

“Since it will be vacant, you’re welcome to live there. It’s furnished because Nate left just about everything when he married Jenna. Dalton isn’t taking much because he and Lindsey picked out new things for their house. Or if you’d prefer, you can stay here with the folks. Either way is okay with us, but we’d like you to remain at the ranch, at least until after the baby comes.”

“Why would y’all do that for me?”

He shrugged. “Because we can, and God put you here. Because we like you.” He reached over and flicked a soft brown curl with his fingertip. “And we’re suckers for little kids.”

10
 

That evening, Chance and Emily arrived first, but Jenna and her family were only five minutes behind them. Their little boy, Zach, made a beeline for Megan. They’d hit it off at dinner, but she had a feeling the cute little guy made friends with everyone he met. She hadn’t been around kids a lot and was surprised at how well—and how much—he talked.

Giving her a big grin, he handed her a small G.I. Joe action figure and climbed up on the couch beside her, sitting on his knees facing her. “That’s Duke. He’s a sergeant like my daddy.”

Megan didn’t quite know what to make of that statement. No one had mentioned that Nate was in the military. The toy was a bit worn. “He looks like he’s been in some battles.”

Zach nodded, his short, pale blond hair gleaming in the lamplight. “He was Daddy’s when he was little. He played with him a lot.”

He looked up at her, his expression serious. He had amazing dark blue eyes with light gray starbursts radiating outward from the center. He was a beautiful child.

When the little boy held out his hand, she laid the toy in his palm. “Maybe you should turn around and sit down. I’m afraid you’ll fall off.”

He frowned slightly but did as she asked, plopping down beside her. “Daddy was in the army. In I-wrak.”

“And Afghanistan,” said Will, sitting down on the other side of his nephew.

Zach walked Duke across the couch cushion and up onto Megan’s arm, then he pretended the G.I. Joe character jumped off, landing on his feet on the couch. “But he won’t ever go back. He’s gonna stay right here with me and Mommy.”

“That’s right.” Will gave the little boy a hug. “We all like that, don’t we.”

“Uh-huh. I want to play Legos.” Zach scooted forward and slid off the couch with a little help from Will. “You play with me?” he asked, looking up at him.

“Sure. We’ll use the coffee table. Do you need some help?”

“I can get ’em.” Zach walked around the massive dark brown leather and oak coffee table that sat between the two red leather couches. A matching red leather chair occupied the space at one end, a mission style rocker with red and gold southwestern print cushions at the other.

Jenna joined them on the couch, making Will scoot a little closer to Megan. She noted that he was careful to leave a little space between them, which was fine with her. Nate took the rocker next to Jenna. Chance, Emily, and Sue occupied the other couch, and Dub settled into the big chair.

“Amazing,” Dub drawled. “All the adults are sitting on the furniture.” He met Megan’s gaze and smiled. “Usually at least one or two of them are sprawled on the floor playing with my grandson.” When the child walked past him, lugging a box that was almost too big for him to carry, the pride and love on Dub’s face tugged at her heart.

Sweet Baby would never have a grandparent to love her like that.
I’ll love you enough to make up for it
, she silently promised.

“I’ve got a gripe,” continued the rancher. “I wasn’t invited to Megan’s gettin’-out-of-the-hospital party this morning.”

“It wasn’t a party.” Sue gave him an indulgent smile.

“Well, sure sounded like a party to me, with doughnuts and everything. And y’all didn’t even bring me one.”

Will laughed and looked at Jenna. “Don’t let him razz you, sis. You saw how he made up for it at dinner by eating half the plain cake.”

“There was enough for everybody.”

“I don’t know, Dad, I had to eat crumbs.” Will winked at Megan.

She chuckled at the family’s banter. Will had scraped the crumbs from the bottom of the pan and sprinkled them on top of the four scoops of ice cream that covered a big piece of cake. The women, including her, had passed on dessert since they’d had a treat earlier. But these hardworking men didn’t have to worry about watching their weight.

The family chatted about their day while Will and Zach built a couple of Lego cars and a garage to put them in. Zach practically built one car on his own while Will made the other. The little boy needed more help with the garage, but Will took his time and showed him how to put it together.

She was surprised by Will’s patience and gentleness with Zach. She’d never known her father, but her two stepfathers, most of her mother’s boyfriends, and her grandfather hadn’t been patient or gentle. They’d had no use for her. She’d learned very early in life to stay out of their way. The only relatives who had shown her a smidgeon of kindness had been her Uncle Riley and her cousin Josh.

She’d had a variety of male bosses over the years. Some gruff, some kind, all demanding. On a personal level, out of the handful of guys she’d dated, only one had truly been a kind person. But he’d moved to California and found himself a blonde surfer girl. The rest, like her baby’s father, Ken, had seemed nice enough at first but turned out to be jerks.

The interaction between the Callahans was fascinating. Were they being nice to each other because they had company? Or did they really get along so well? Not all rich families were this happy. She’d worked with people who had tons of money but a lousy family life.

Will had said that he didn’t always agree with his father, but that he loved and respected him. Jenna had talked about how Will and Chance used to fight over things when they were younger. Did they still argue? Or sometimes get in knockdown drag-outs like her uncle and grandfather? Surely not. It would be impossible to do that and have the kind of relationship they seemed to have.

After half an hour of chitchat, the men decided to move into the TV room and watch the baseball game. When Zach tagged along, Megan felt a twinge of disappointment.

“We have a proposal for you.” Jenna’s face broke into an excited smile. “I expect Will has already told you that we’d like for you to stay here at the ranch. Mom, Emily, and I were talking this morning—complaining a little, actually,” she said with a laugh. “We’re all pretty busy, and sometimes we can’t keep up with things without getting a little frazzled.”

From what she’d seen of these women, Megan didn’t think anything stressed them out.

“So we were wondering if you’d be our assistant.” Emily’s expression mirrored Jenna’s enthusiasm. “It wouldn’t be anything hard, ten to fifteen hours a week. If you could take care of some of our computer work and organize some things, it would be a tremendous help.”

“For the most part, you could set your own hours and pace, so you can rest when you need to.” Sue paused for a sip of iced tea. “Emily would like some help at the museum with newsletters, inputting things on the computer, and only she knows what else.”

“Trust me, I can find plenty of things for you to do.” Emily kicked off her sandals and curled her legs up on the couch.

“Dusting the displays?” Megan grinned at her.

“Nope. Thankfully, volunteers do that. Our primary museum on Main Street is in a wonderful old building that Chance restored and donated to the Historical Society. As Sue mentioned this morning, the Bradley-Tucker House is also part of the museum. It was built by Dr. Bradley, a physician and rancher who came here in 1895.”

“Did he arrive here before or after the Callahans?” Megan shifted her position and put her feet up on the leather portion of the coffee table, which she’d noticed also served as an ottoman.

“After,” said Sue. “Dub’s great-grandfather, Aidan, and his brother Jack brought a herd of longhorns out here in 1880. They established the ranch and the town.

“Dr. Bradley built his home in 1904. His daughter, Sally Tucker, died a little over a year ago at 102. She had a keen interest in history and saved practically everything that had belonged to her parents and her own family.”

“Sue convinced Sally’s daughter to donate the whole place, including all the contents, to us.” Emily smiled at her mother-in-law. “Besides wonderful antique furnishings in the main part of the house, Sally had enough treasures in two garages and the attic to practically fill the downtown museum.” She rested her head against the back of the couch with a happy sigh. “It’s the kind of donation museum curators dream of.”

“I imagine so.” Until Megan got into real estate and saw homes decorated with beautiful antique furniture or in a casual country style, she hadn’t placed much value on old things. When she was growing up, everything in their home—when they had one—came from garage sales or junk stores.

Not that she had anything against either one. For years, she’d filled her tiny apartment with Goodwill or garage sale finds. But she’d tried to pick quality items, not pans with peeling Teflon or tables with broken legs. Or a ratty-looking teddy bear that had already spent its best years with some other kid.

“I can use your help at the Mission occasionally too,” Jenna said. “It’s our local food bank, but we also have clothing and some furniture and household items. Everything is free. But we need to keep track of who visits as well as the donations and orders from the larger area food bank in Abilene. Sometimes I get behind on the paperwork.”

Sue glanced at Emily and smiled. “But our main need is for someone to be in charge of luncheons and teas at the museum. We rent half of the building for meetings, and sometimes they involve food of some kind. One of the older ladies in the Historical Society had the idea, and Emily ran with it.

“Most of the time the food is prepared by our members, so we earn money for the museum. We’re averaging two meetings a month. We need someone to coordinate it all. Make sure we have people lined up to prepare the food, serve it, and clean up. We need someone to keep everything running smoothly.”

“We’d been trying to handle it by committee,” added Emily, “but that didn’t always work out. We came close to having a couple of disasters. Sue and I have been doing it the last couple of months, but we both have plenty of other things to keep us busy.”

Sue nodded. “It would be better to have one person in charge so nothing slips through the cracks, especially now while Emily is working on a grant proposal and developing some new displays. We’re guessing that your background working in restaurants would be helpful, as well as your real-estate experience. I have a friend who was a Realtor for a while, and she juggled a dozen things at once.”

“That describes it pretty well.” Megan tried not to get too excited. She wanted to trust God and the Callahans in this, but nothing in her life had ever come easily. “I think I could do the things you’ve mentioned. It all sounds interesting, especially coordinating the luncheons and teas. That would be right up my alley and a lot of fun.”

“What about making fancy desserts or decorating cakes for the luncheons?” asked Sue. “I apologize for snooping in your things, but Chance was so impressed by the photos of your wonderful creations that he showed them to us.” She grinned at her. “We were just as impressed.”

“Thank you.” Megan returned her smile. “Of course, I only took pictures of the things that turned out well.” They laughed with her. “I would love to make the desserts. And for the family too, if Ramona won’t mind sharing the kitchen.”

“I don’t think she’d mind a bit, other than fussing about you overdoing it. However, it might be best if you use the kitchen in the camp house when you’re cooking for the museum. That would give you plenty of room, and you wouldn’t have to compete with Ramona for the stove.”

“Supervising the luncheons and doing the baking would be your primary job,” said Emily. “That may turn out to be all you do. If there isn’t much going on in the off weeks, then Jenna or I will have you help with the other things. But we don’t want you working too hard. If keeping the luncheons organized and doing the baking is too much, you can choose which one you’d prefer. We don’t do any actual cooking at the museum, so all the meals are made up of salads or sandwiches and dessert.”

“You’re welcome to stay here with Dub and me and use the other house only for the desserts.” Sue met her gaze. “Or you can live there so you have a place of your own if you’d prefer that. You can check it out after Dalton leaves and decide then.

“Even if you move, we’d like for you to join us for meals as often as you want. You’ll discover that all the family is here more times than not. And it will make it easier for the three of us to coordinate with you on your work schedule.”

Jenna spoke up. “Since Will found you a car—”

“What car?” Megan frowned. Why hadn’t Will said anything about it when they were looking at the van?

“Oops.” Will’s sister made a face. “Guess I ruined his surprise. Some friends at church just bought a new SUV to haul their kids to all their sporting activities. Their other car is small and still in pretty good shape, but it wasn’t worth enough to bother with a trade-in. They were going to post a giveaway note on the bulletin board at church on Sunday. Will saw them in town this morning in their new ride and asked about the old one. When he learned they were going to give it away, he suggested they give it to you.”

“The car is yours if you want it,” Sue said quietly. “Whether you stay here or leave. But I hope you’ll consider our offer before you make up your mind.”

“We need to finish the details on the offer.” Jenna shifted on the couch so that she faced her more fully. “Two hundred dollars a week, with a maximum of fifteen hours work a week.”

Megan blinked. That was a good wage for a part-time job, even in the city. For a rural area like Callahan Crossing, she suspected it was way over scale.

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