One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(28)

“Why did my mama leave?” she asked.

Mavis blanched and locked her hands together in her lap so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The veins in the top of her hands looked like they might explode before she finally relaxed enough to unclasp her fingers.

“Why are you asking?” Mavis whispered.

“I was thinking about her and a memory popped up. I look like her, don’t I? What is your problem with her anyway?”

“You’re old enough to know, Leah. I’ve kept you and Declan protected from the whole sordid story, but before I open this can of worms, why don’t you leave well enough alone and trust me?”

“Open the can,” Leah said.

Mavis frowned. “Remember you asked for it.”

“Yes, I did,” Leah said.

“Your mother was the resident bad girl of Burnt Boot. They moved here when she was seventeen and your dad was eighteen. We hired her father to help on River Bend, not knowing that her mother was a drunk who flirted with every hired hand on the place.” Mavis paused.

“Go on,” Leah said.

“Her dad wasn’t much better, but he did stay sober through the week and was a good hand. Because Eden lived on the ranch, she attended our school, and your dad fell under her spell. Lord only knows how hard I tried to break it up. I sent him to college here in Texas and gave her money to go to school in California. She got on a bus in Gainesville and followed him to his college, and they lived together for a year before they went to the courthouse and got married.”

“Maybe I got the rebellion from him instead of my mama,” Leah said.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Mavis took a deep breath and hesitated before she said, “It’s time for you to go.”

Leah’s phone rang before she could stand up. She smiled when she saw that it was Rhett and nodded as he told her that he’d be a little bit late.

She slipped the phone back into her purse and told her grandmother, “You might as well get the whole story out right now. My date is going to be at six thirty instead of six.”

“Eden slept with several of the boys before she settled on your father. Of course, she would want the best, and by that I mean the one with the most money,” Mavis said.

“You know for a fact that she slept around?”

Mavis nodded. “Your dad told me he didn’t care if he wasn’t first with her because she damn sure wasn’t his first. What mattered was that they were last with each other. They didn’t have kids until your dad finished college, and then they moved back to River Bend and she had Declan the next year and two years after that you were born.”

“And?” Leah asked.

“Her mother died from too much whiskey and her dad left River Bend. She got in touch with an old boyfriend and had an affair. Didn’t even deny it when your dad confronted her. So I calculated how much money she’d get in child support until you and Declan were eighteen and gave it to her in a lump sum to leave River Bend.”

Leah checked her watch. “Go on.”

“I don’t give second chances. Neither does your dad. She yelled and screamed that she wouldn’t leave her precious children behind, but she crawled on that cycle with that hippie and took the check I’d written with her. We never heard from her again,” Mavis said. “Since Rhett O’Donnell moved in next door, I’ve seen that same look in your eye that she had in hers that morning she left.”

“I’m not my mother,” Leah said.

“Prove it.” Mavis stood up and headed for the door. “You are right; it’s hot out here. I’m going in for some iced sweet tea. Join me and tell that hippie cowboy that you aren’t interested in him?”

“I’ve got a date.”

“Remember what I said, child. Either this is the last one, or you’ll leave. Only you don’t get a check.”

How in the hell had something that big never been talked about all over Burnt Boot? Surely everyone knew about it at the time and even twenty-five years wouldn’t have covered up that story. Not when folks still talked about Rayford Brennan’s hanging and that was a hundred years ago.

The story about her mother was slowly settling into her heart. None of it surprised her. Her grandmother had always had the last word. Someday in the near future, she intended to corner her father and get his version of the story of Eden and the man she left River Bend with that day.

What if I can’t be true to the man I fall in love with? The question was like a hard punch to her gut.

She turned on the air conditioner in her truck and let it blow on her face for a full minute before she put the truck in reverse and backed out of the driveway. Could she walk away and leave two precious children? Was she hardwired with that kind of DNA? Did her mother ever truly love her father? Was Eden even capable of love? If not, did she pass on that inability to Leah?

Leah put the vehicle in gear and drove to the school lot reserved for teacher parking. She was determined to put it all out of her mind and think about it tomorrow. Like little orphan Annie sang in the childhood movie she liked so well, tomorrow was only a day away, and tonight might be the last time she ever got to see Rhett O’Donnell other than in passing.

She truly wanted it to be a night to remember, even if it was only a fifteen-minute ride down through Burnt Boot toward the river and back to town for a beer at the bar. Tomorrow, she’d leave with Honey and Kinsey, like she did every summer. They’d stay at a fancy hotel in Times Square and shop, party, shop, and party some more until they were sick of the big-city life and ready to come home to Burnt Boot. Honey and Kinsey had been researching spas and nightspots. In the past, Leah had gone along with whatever they’d wanted, but not this year. She was spending her days taking long walks in Central Park and her nights in the hotel room making a lot of decisions.