Megan's Hero (The Callahans of Texas Book #3): A Novel (19 page)

“Of course, I mustn’t forget the lovely ladies who stood up with my beautiful bride. Also the ladies who decorated and kept the buffet tables, coffeepot, and punch bowl full. I’d also like for you to give a hand to the folks from Mary Lou’s Catering out of Abilene for the delicious meal.”

During the applause, he passed the microphone to Lindsey, who thanked the organist and the young woman who sang a solo. “I’m sure I’ll think of others later . . . oh yes, I can’t forget Buds and Blooms for all the beautiful flowers.” Lindsey smiled at the florist. “I’m sure y’all wish we’d get on with it so you can have some of the cake, but I have a little story to share with you about this wonderful creation. Isn’t it beautiful?”

The applause touched Megan’s heart. Most people weren’t merely clapping to be polite. Judging by their expressions, they truly appreciated how pretty the wedding cake was.

“Two weeks ago, the bakery that was supposed to make our cakes had a fire and couldn’t do them. I called all over the area and couldn’t find anyone who would. In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of weddings in June. Then I thought about my friend Megan. She’s new to the area, but she’s made some wonderful desserts for functions at the museum, including a cake that was a perfect replica of a patchwork sampler quilt.” Several of the locals nodded and sent glances her way. “She saved the day, making both our cakes on terribly short notice. Megan, would you please stand up and take a bow?”

Heat flooded her face. She really didn’t want to stand up in front of all these people. Being the center of attention made her uncomfortable at any time. Knowing Mike would be able to pinpoint where she was sitting filled her with dread. But it would be impolite if she refused.

When she started to get up, Will slid her chair back slightly to make it easier. Popping up and back down quickly would have been her preference, but that wasn’t possible these days. Still, she stood only for a few seconds, long enough to acknowledge Lindsey’s kindness and to raise a few eyebrows when people noticed how pregnant she was.

She sat down, and Will put his arm around her, giving her a hug right there in front of everyone. Her face grew even hotter, but when he left his arm around her shoulders, she didn’t pull away.

Amid cameras flashing, Dalton and Lindsey held the knife together and cut the first piece, two chocolate layers with strawberry mousse filling. They fed each other a bite and managed to get most of it inside their mouths instead of on their faces. Then their aunts took over to serve everyone else, two at the wedding cake and one at the groom’s cake.

Will and Nate pushed back from the table at the same time. Grinning, Chance was right behind them. “Shall we bring you some cake, ladies?”

“By all means,” said Jenna. Emily nodded.

“I want cake too.” Zach started to get down from his chair, but Nate stopped him.

“I’ll bring you a piece, buddy. You’d better stay here. It looks like we’re going to have a stampede, and you might get squished.”

“A big one.” Zach held his hands wide apart.

Nate laughed and ruffled his hair. “That would be half a layer. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty.”

Will rested his hand on Megan’s shoulder and leaned down. “You want a piece, don’t you?”

“Yes. Guess I’d better see how it tastes.” She was nervous, but there was no reason to be. She’d made the cakes and fillings before. They would be fine. She hoped. She didn’t think she’d left anything out. “If they’re cutting the second layer from the bottom—white with pineapple mousse—I’d like to try that. Otherwise, whatever is available is fine.”

Less than ten minutes later, Will set their dessert plates on the table.

Before he pulled out his chair, Mike Craig walked up.

Stay calm.
Act like it’s no big deal.
Not easy to do when Megan’s heart pounded like a jackhammer. Had he purposely waited until Will returned? Was that good? Or bad? The two men shook hands and introduced themselves.

“Dalton mentioned you were dating Kim,” said Will.

“We’ve gone out a few times, though I don’t get up this way as often as we’d both like.” Mike stepped aside so a woman could walk between the tables. “This sounds a little weird, but I came over here mainly to meet the pretty lady who made the cake.”

“You planning on needin’ one soon?” Will asked dryly.

Mike laughed and looked down at Megan as she glanced up at them. “No.” He nodded politely to her. “Excuse me, ma’am. I know Lindsey said your name was Megan, but I can’t get over how much you look like someone I used to know. Did you ever live in San Angelo?”

Will’s eyebrows shot up.

“Yes, I did. Hi, Mike. I thought I recognized you earlier, but I wasn’t sure.”
Liar.
She swallowed hard and managed a semblance of a smile.

His face broke into a wide grin. “I knew it. You’re prettier than ever.” He focused on Will. “May I join y’all for a few minutes?”

“Fine with me, as long as Megan doesn’t mind.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her.

“You’ll need to scrounge up another chair.”
Please, Will, stay close.

He quickly put that particular worry to rest. He was already pulling over an empty chair from the table next to them and aiming it at a spot between Jenna and her. Jenna scooted over to make room, and relief washed through her. He wasn’t about to let another guy boot him out of his place beside her.

Mike thanked Jenna and Will, and greeted everyone else at the table. Chance and Nate leaned over to shake his hand and introduce themselves and their wives. Then he turned his full attention to her. “What happened to you? All I heard was that you’d taken off.”

Will sat down and casually put his arm around her shoulders. She shifted slightly, leaning against his side. His closeness gave her strength, and the big hand gently cupping her shoulder calmed her. The slight flare in Mike’s eyes told her that he didn’t miss Will’s possessive move, and her response to it.

“My mother was driving me crazy, so I struck out on my own. Went to Austin. I’ve been there ever since. Well, until about a month ago.”

“I could tell your home life was rough.” He frowned and shook his head. “I wanted to help you, but I couldn’t see any way to do it.” He glanced at Will, his lips twisting with regret. “I was twenty-two and she was fifteen.”

She figured Will was thinking “jail bait.”

Mike looked back at her. “If you’d been older, I would have asked you out.”

“If I’d been older, I wouldn’t have been there.”

He nodded and smiled ruefully. “When I saw you in the sanctuary, I asked Kim about you. She told me about the tornado. Going through that must have been awful. Kim said you’re living with the Callahans.”

“I stayed with them a few days, but now I have a house of my own at the ranch. I’m working for them.” She expected Kim also told him that she wasn’t married.

“Good. I’m glad to hear you’re doing okay.” He paused, his expression thoughtful. “Have you talked to any of your family lately?”

“No. I haven’t had any contact with them since I left eight years ago, and I don’t want any now.”

“I understand.”

“I’ve heard a few things through the grapevine.” She kept up with them through various online sites. Public records—weddings, divorces, obituaries, arrests, and court records—told her all she wanted to know.

“I ran into Josh about a month ago at a convenience store.” He watched her closely.

“He’s back in San Angelo?” That should tell him she knew her cousin had been in prison.

“Yes. He’s been back almost a year. He’s helping his dad, though I don’t know what they’re doing. To be honest I was only half listening. I was late for an appointment and stopped to grab a sandwich. The cashier was talking to me at the same time, so I didn’t catch everything Josh said. I don’t know if they’re working for someone else or if they’re in business for themselves. There was something about covering his dad’s territory and being on the road a lot.”

They’re rustling cattle!
Megan’s heart began to pound all over again, and her throat went dry. Her grandfather and Uncle Riley had stolen cattle off and on for a few years. They’d gotten caught and gone to jail when she was in elementary school.

She needed to change the subject pronto. “I talked to Kim earlier. She was bragging on you.”

“Tallying up my assets is more like it.” When he smiled, Megan caught a glimpse of the mischievous guy she’d once had a crush on. “I took over Dad’s oil business a few years back when he decided to retire. We’re busier than a boomtown saloon. Lindsey gave me fair warning about Kim, but I like her anyway. I just don’t put up with her nonsense.

“Well, I’d better get movin’. I’m supposed to be fetching some cake.” He stood and glanced at Megan’s round stomach, his expression growing serious. “I hope everything turns out well for you, M.B. Oh, sorry, I forgot.” A twinkle danced in his eyes. “I like Megan better.”

“So do I.” She stood too, and he leaned down so he could hear her over loud laughter from a nearby table. “Please don’t tell anyone that I’m here.”

“I won’t. The best thing you ever did was get away from that bunch.”

“You too.” She wondered when he’d come to his senses.

“I only hung around because of you.”

That was a surprise. “It’s good to see you, Mike.”

He gave her a little hug and murmured in her ear, “Hang on to Callahan. I hear he’s a good man.”

As he walked away, she sat down and glanced around the table. Bless Zach’s sweet little heart. Totally focused on his dessert, he was the only one who wasn’t dying of curiosity about the exchange between her and Mike.

“It really is a small world,” said Nate.

“Isn’t it?” She picked up her fork, wishing that was the end of it, knowing it wouldn’t be.

“There are several folks from San Angelo here, but it’s a big town. It’s amazing that you’d run into an old acquaintance.” Chance ate his last bite of groom’s cake. He leaned close to Emily and whispered something in her ear. When she looked across the room, he swiped a bite of wedding cake from her plate.

“Chance Callahan, you stop that.” Emily playfully swatted his hand.

“Aw, darlin’, you have to share. There’s not going to be any of it left, and I wanted to taste it.” He turned his attention to Megan. “Jenna’s piece had chocolate mousse filling, and Emily’s has strawberry mousse. But both of them came from the bottom layer. I watched Lindsey’s aunt cut them. How did you do that?”

She laid her fork down without taking a bite. “Because the bottom layer is so big, it’s made using half-circle pans. It takes four half-circle cakes for the bottom since each layer is two cakes high. So I used different fillings for each half, then put them together on the plate so they looked like one big round layer and iced them.”

“Smart.”

“I just followed directions.” She picked up her fork again. The white cake with pineapple mousse tasted even better than she’d hoped it would.

“So how did you know Mike?” Chance turned his attention back to her.

“He and my cousin Josh were friends. I met him about six months before I left home.”

Will had waited to eat his dessert. If he wondered why she didn’t say anything about Mike when they first saw him, he kept it to himself. “So why did he call you M.B.?”

“That’s what everybody called me growing up.”

“Why?” Jenna finished wiping Zach’s face and hands with a damp lavender paper napkin and helped him down from the chair. He immediately ran around a couple of tables to see Dub and Sue.

“Mom was going through a hippie phase when I was born.”

“Uh-oh.” Will looked down at her, a hint of a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “What did she saddle you with?”

“Moon Beam.”

“Are you serious?” Emily—and everyone else at the table—stared at her.

“Unfortunately, I am. Thankfully, my first grade teacher took pity on me and called me M.B. from the very first day. All the other teachers followed her lead, so the kids did too.”

“Did you change it when you left home?” Jenna asked, giving Nate a smile as he put his arm around her.

Megan nodded. “I couldn’t legally change it until I was eighteen, but I told people my name was Megan. My bosses knew otherwise because I had to use my real name on job applications, but they were kind enough not to mention it.”

“So when you went to school in Austin, you were able to start fresh as Megan?” Chance asked, his mild expression not hiding the fact that he was on a fishing expedition.

Will tensed, and Emily glanced at her husband in surprise. Up until then, none of the Callahans had pushed her for information about herself. She knew Will and Chance were very close. It was natural that Chance would want to look out for his brother.

The noisy people at the table next to them had left. The table on the other side was also empty. No one else would be privy to their conversation. She didn’t know if Will had told his family about her mother and grandfather. If he had, and she answered Chance truthfully, it would be another mark against her. How much more would it take to change their kindness to disapproval?

“I never did go back to school, or get my GED. I was too busy working.” And trying to survive.

“You were all on your own?” Emily stacked her empty dessert plate on top of her husband’s.

Megan knew Emily came from a wealthy family. No one ever actually said so, but Megan put little things together. Did they have any idea what it was like to fend for themselves, to wonder where they’d sleep or when they’d have their next meal?

“Yes. Though I wasn’t too proud to ask for help. I didn’t want to live on the street. I stayed at a homeless shelter for a couple of months. I had worked before I left and had a little savings. I found a job waitressing pretty fast, but it took time to save up enough to get into a place of my own. My first job in Austin didn’t pay too much even with tips, so I worked a lot of double shifts. Later I got on at a large, upscale restaurant and made decent money. But I still worked long hours.”

“How did you get into real estate?” Her lack of education didn’t appear to bother Chance. That was a big relief.

“One of my regular customers at the restaurant asked me to work for her and a couple of other agents as an assistant. I learned a lot about the business doing their busy work and being a gofer. And I acquired some computer skills by trial and error. The first month I made up advertising flyers, I almost went back to the restaurant.

“I worked mostly days and had weekends off for the first time ever. That’s when I took the cake decorating classes. Later, I took some online real estate classes and got my license.”

“And you lost some of your free evenings and weekends,” said Jenna. “I had a friend in Dallas who was in real estate. She worked all kinds of hours. Do you think you’ll ever go back to it?”

“Not for a long time. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t want to try to juggle it and take care of a child.”

“Speaking of your baby . . .” Jenna grinned at her. “What are you going to name her? Sweet Baby is cute for now, but I don’t think she’ll want to go through life with it.”

That gave them all a laugh. “Definitely not. That would be as bad as Moon Beam. I’ve been thinking about it but haven’t come up with anything I really like.”

They started tossing around names, some pretty, some outlandish and only meant to make them laugh. She noticed that Will didn’t contribute to the banter, which was unusual.

“Is anything wrong?” she asked quietly as the others hooted about a suggestion Nate had made.

“No. Just considerin’.”

“Considering what?”

He leaned close, his breath warm on her ear, and he curled his fingers around hers. “How each one sounds with Callahan.”