Her Secret Sons (11 page)

“This is basic, too,” Pansy said. “Very, very simple.”

Pepper decided to humor them. “Chocolate pie? Strawberry shortcake? What will I be making?”

“Well,” Helen said, “after Bill McGarrett came to see us, we cooked this up. Now, before you laugh, we’d like to say in our defense that we gave your brother Duke a recipe. We also gave Zach one, and each of their wives.”

“They’re just gentle words of wisdom that a mother might pass along to a daughter or son,” Pansy explained. “There are no written instructions that come with marriage, you know. Success is generally about the woman and the man figuring things out. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.”

“I’d like to figure it out,” Pepper said softly.

“Luke would, too, we’re certain.” Pansy handed her a recipe on a pieces of paper printed with tulips. “It’s all about the women being stronger than the men because they get lost in the relationship maze, the poor dears.”

“Yes,” Helen agreed. “We’ll leave you to your patients now, but Pepper, it’s all going to work out fine.”

Pansy and Helen hugged her, and tears burned her eyes and the back of her throat. They departed, and Pepper looked at the recipe, if for no other reason than curiosity. She really didn’t believe in the age-old wisdom that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach.

“A Recipe for Romancing Your New Husband” was written in pretty script at the top of the sheet.

She definitely wasn’t confident where Luke was concerned. Pepper sat down in her office to read more.

Pepper couldn’t help laughing at their delicate attempt to coach her. Feeling better—because the recipe really was simple—she read on.

They’d all been so busy getting to know each other that she and Luke really hadn’t focused on the two of them as an item. It seemed wise at the time—she’d been so worried about the boys being happy—but Pepper realized Pansy and Helen were right.

She shivered, wondering if it was too late to change her ways. She’d been protecting herself from being abandoned again, protecting herself against losing Luke to the point that she never let him in, at all.

Yet secretly, she knew he wanted to go with the general, which hurt despite everything practical she tried to tell herself.

Luke dropped by the saloon to get Toby and Josh a snack before he went to sign them up for school. After the Man Catch, where they’d seen some kids their age, they were starting to feel excited about getting back to class.

Whether Pepper knew it or not, she and Luke had made the right decision about marrying. The boys were a lot more settled because of it.

Luke slid into a chair and grinned at Helen as she brought a menu over. “Good morning.”

“I heard good news about your father, Luke,” she said, as Pansy brought over drinks for the three of them to choose from.

“Yes,” Luke said, “thanks to the Man Catch, Dad sold three parcels of property he owned.”

“We’ll have three new residents,” Pansy said happily. “I can’t wait to welcome them to Tulips.”

“And Dad sold his business interests to Holt.” Luke thought that was a smart move on his father’s part. “Dad was ready to get out of residential real
estate and move toward commercial. He always wanted a son to go into business with him. Holt fits the bill fine.” Luke didn’t feel any jealousy of Holt. It was a relief that his father wanted to stay so active now and had found a good business partner. “The boys are going to help Grandpa clean up some properties this summer, aren’t you?”

They nodded eagerly, glad to be part of an enterprise that involved family.

“So, you’re on your way to sign up for middle school.” Helen smiled at them. “You would have liked the new elementary school your uncles built, though they about drove us crazy in the process. Tried to take our saloon for the school, but we told them women’s cookies are important to a town’s growth, too. Eventually, your stubborn uncles gave in.”

Toby and Josh smiled. Seeing Molly at the window waving her golden tail, they dashed off to play with her.

“I’d say those are happy kids,” Helen observed.

“They are.”

“Your father was in here last night. He sure seems to have taken a new lease on life,” Pansy said.

Luke nodded. “Amazing what grandkids can do.”

Helen looked at Pansy. “I’m sure the change has something to do with a certain son being home, as well.”

Luke thought about that for a few moments before deciding to make a clean sweep of it. They were going to hear sooner or later.
Might as well be from me.

He looked at his friends. “I may be leaving for a little while.”

“Oh?” Pansy said. Helen gazed at him, her eyes bright behind her black-rimmed glasses.

They must have already known because they didn’t seem surprised, Luke realized. “Pepper tell you?”

“Your dad, actually,” Helen said. “The boys don’t know.”

“I’d be back before school starts,” Luke said quickly.

“We like the general,” Pansy said. “How come he gets to have all the fun and excitement and derring-do?”

Luke grinned. “Because he’s a general and was in command of very sensitive operations for many years.”

“You must be awfully good at what
you
do,” Helen said. “The general seemed very attached to you.”

“I lived with his family for a year. Even though my time was spent in a protective role, we still became close. They trust me.”

“So how does Pepper feel about this?” Pansy asked.

“She didn’t say much,” Luke said. He didn’t know her well enough to know if that was a good or bad sign. Sometimes he needed two or three days to let information of a personal nature sink in.

“Guess you’re looking forward to it,” Helen said.

“I was in Greece when Hawk and Jellyfish encouraged me to come home,” Luke said. “I never felt like I got to offer the general notice. It seemed as if I’d run out on a job and some good friends. Now they need a special favor from me, and I’d like to help.”

The ladies nodded sympathetically.

“Well, of course we have no advice on this matter,” Pansy said. “Thankfully, you’re not looking for any.”

“I am,” Luke said, surprising himself. “I want to do the best thing for my family. I want to provide a good example for my boys.”

Pansy smiled. “People in the military spend time away from their families. Pilots have to travel. Lots of people travel for work. Talk it over with Pepper. And then I’m sure your feelings will guide you to the best decision.”

He wasn’t so sure. He felt completely divided. The right thing to do would be to finish up with the general and be proud of a job well done before he moved on with his life. On the other hand, his marriage was quite new, his bonds with his boys just forming.

The timing felt awkward, but then, the timing had felt awkward in many ways since he’d been in Tulips.

He wouldn’t be feeling split if he hadn’t seduced Pepper. Once he’d known the wonders of being with her, his priorities had begun to change.

Not to mention that the sex was mind-blowing.

“Luke?” Helen said. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” He sat straighter and tried to focus. It was weird what Pepper was doing to his brain.

Pansy poured him some tea. “Blackberry,” she said helpfully. “You look like you could use a cinnamon cookie, too.”

It wouldn’t help. His face would still go slack, his
eyes dreamy, if he was thinking about Pepper, which was all he did anymore. A trip with the general would give him perspective, Luke decided. He was in danger of making a major goof in his life. Pepper hadn’t wanted a heavy-duty marriage tying her down. They’d agreed to marry for the boys’ sake, but he’d been unable to resist making love to her.

Definitely not in the spirit of their agreement, which again was all his fault. Where Pepper was concerned, he was no different than he’d been at seventeen.
Horny.

“Marriage isn’t easy for me,” Luke said suddenly. “I know what to do with guns. I can travel all over the world without suffering from jet lag or Montezuma’s revenge. Nothing bothers me. Except marriage,” he confessed. “I can’t quite get the woman’s angle down.”

“Lots of romance helps,” Helen advised.

And Pansy added, “Lots of kissing and hugging and bedtime fun.”

Luke blinked, staring at his friends. “Check, check and check.”

A concerned frown settled on Pansy’s brow. “Well, all that’s left is good communication.”

He felt that he and Pepper communicated well. But they did operate differently. “She didn’t really want to marry me,” he said. “I coerced her. I figured women secretly want to be married, and I could make her happy and we belonged together because of the boys—”

“Oh,” Helen said, “this is a falling-in-love problem.”

Luke wasn’t sure what it was, but he was willing to accept some words of wisdom. “Can it be solved?”

“Maybe,” Pansy said. “We have a recipe you can try. We make no guarantees, though.”

“A recipe? I let Pepper cook if she feels like it. And then I do KP. Kitchen police,” he explained.

“Well, at least you do something,” Helen said, rooting around in a drawer. “I think Bug and Hiram started out doing nothing. Most men are like that, until their wives stop cooking to make their point! Here it is,” she said, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Luke.

“‘A Recipe For Winning Your Independent Wife,’” he read aloud. “Obviously, you must have known I might bobble my marriage slightly.”

“No,” Helen said, “but Duke and Zach each got a recipe awhile back, so we made one up for you, too. We didn’t want to seem preferential.”

“It’s just that there is no foolproof guidebook for marriage,” Pansy explained.

“The unknown can be a bit scary,” Helen said. “But between us, Pansy and I were married many years. We decided marriage really was a simple recipe, perhaps more simple than any we cook up in our kitchen. It’s the recipe people are lacking.”

“Maybe.” Luke folded the paper and put it in his pocket. “Thanks for trying to help.”

They smiled. “Luke, you’ve turned out real well,” Helen said.

“If you think about it, you’ve done the hard part
in your life.” Pansy said. “You’ve made your father a happy man.”

He and his dad had come a long way, Luke acknowledged. Reconciliation was something he’d learned to appreciate.

“I think it’s somewhat fun that we split the great debate of commerce versus organic growth,” Helen said, a twinkle in her eye. “Duke got his organic growth, all courtesy of the Forresters, I might add. Three new families. And the Tulips Saloon Gang—”

“Proponents of commerce to build Tulips,” Pansy interjected.

“—also added three families.” Helen could barely contain her glee. “Good things are happening all over our fair town. And you and your family looked really happy at the Man Catch. It did us good to see it.”

Kissing them both goodbye, Luke left and went home, thinking about his own contribution to Tulips’s organic growth. He and Pepper had a lot to discuss.

As he parked the truck outside the house, he saw his sons and a golden retriever disappear inside. Luke wondered how Pepper would feel about a dog roaming through her place. Since it was Duke’s dog—and probably partly hers and Zach’s, as well—he figured she wouldn’t mind too much. He’d know soon enough if the dog swiftly exited.

Idly, he pulled out the paper the ladies had given him. There wasn’t anything they could tell him about
marriage that he wasn’t well on his way to messing up, he decided.

He wasn’t too proud to admit he could use some well-meaning tips. With some trepidation, he gazed at the first ingredient.

There was a lot he couldn’t talk about, though. The general’s work had classified status; even wives weren’t privy to that information. The general’s real issue of concern was his daughters. While he felt safe with Hawk and Jellyfish, he wanted one more pair of eyes—Luke’s eyes—watching out for his girls. Kidnapping had been a real fear of his; ransom and terrorism seemed to go hand in hand. Now that Luke had sons of his own, he understood the general’s concern.

But he couldn’t explain a lot of this to Pepper. Some, yes. All, no. He couldn’t discuss it with anyone.

Nor could he tell her that it felt like he’d run out on family. He had so much family
here
now. Plus, it was true what he’d told Pansy and Helen: he had sweet-talked Pepper into marrying him. She hadn’t been particularly keen, especially since she’d been surviving well enough on her own, raising the boys.

Luke felt torn. The job was short, only a couple of months, just long enough to accompany the general and his family to South America. He’d be back before the boys were in school.

His gaze drifted to the second ingredient.

He hadn’t romanced Pepper much. Would she want that? From what he knew, she was a woman who didn’t like a lot of frills. Just straight answers and a professional approach. The doctor preferred information she could readily process.

He’d sure give it a whirl if the ladies thought it was a good idea, though.

He needed his curve to be a quick one.

Putting the letter away so he could think over the advice, he went inside the house. Toby and Josh and Molly were on the sofa, watching cartoons. The dog gave him a sheepish glance, and the boys barely nodded when he ruffled their hair.

“No dogs on the sofa,” he said, feeling a little bit like the bad guy. “Down, Molly.”

She slunk to the floor, lying down at the boys’ feet.

“You knew better than that, you old ham.” Luke went upstairs to find Pepper.

He discovered her up on a ladder in the hall, pulling wallpaper off one corner of the wall. “Need help?”

She gazed down at him with some surprise. “Have you ever done this before?”

“I hate to admit it, but no.”

She smiled. “Then I’ll pass on making you strip wallpaper.”

He thought about the gang’s recipe and considered the best way to open up some communication. “I could make dinner,” he suggested.

That got her attention. She stared at him. “Really?”

“Of course,” he said, making it sound as if he were Julia Child and knew what he was doing. “If you eat grilled, I can grill it.”

“I love grilled food.” She went back to her work. “I warn you that there are no groceries, though.”

“I’ll sign on for shopping, too. Or,” he said, thinking about romance, “we could order pizza and then take a long walk together. I could teach you how to find Orion’s belt.”

She laughed. “This is Tulips. We don’t get pizza delivery here. We don’t have any delivery, unless you count Valentine, who kindly brings confectionary items to the saloon.”

“So,” Luke said, “are we okay with each other?”

“I think so,” Pepper replied, but she didn’t seem surprised that the question came up.

“Could we be better?”

She tore off another strip of wallpaper. “I don’t honestly know.”

He thought about that. “You’d tell me if you weren’t good with me doing this last job?”

She was silent for at least half a minute. “Luke,
you had a life before us. I didn’t expect you to give up everything for us.”

Did that sound odd? Something didn’t ring sincerely, as reasonable as she made it sound. He watched her strip a few more pieces, realizing he’d gotten all the answer on that subject she intended to give.

“I’ll grill chicken,” he said, and she nodded.

“Thank you.”

Thank you for cooking dinner? He desperately wanted to snatch Helen’s and Pansy’s words of wisdom from his pocket—he needed a cheat sheet.
Romance,
he reminded himself. “You’ve got a great butt in those jeans,” he said. “You could stand on a ladder like that all the time so I could stare at it. But then I’d miss out seeing your…face,” he said, hesitating only long enough so she’d think he’d been about to say
breasts.

She looked down and giggled, finally making eye contact, to his great satisfaction. “Maybe I will let you show me Orion’s belt tonight,” she said.

The recipe was working.

He sure hoped it was, because if it wasn’t, he was running out of ideas on how to convince his new bride that their marriage was about more than Parenting 101.