A Cowgirl's Secret(27)
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Bonnie declared. “You’re crazy. Come on, Henry.” The girl took the man’s hand. “Let’s go ride the merry-go-round.”
“No!” Daisy managed to choke out.
“Mom, stop!” Kolt said when she tugged him to her, hugging him for all she was worth. “I hate you! You’re being weird!”
He wriggled free to run off toward the bull chutes.
“I—I have to go after him,” she said on autopilot, determined to save her son.
“Let him go,” Luke urged. “Cash is there. He’ll watch over him. Right now, I’m concerned about you.”
“As am I,” Henry said, rubbing his leathery hand along her bare forearm. “Poor girl. What you need is a nice big hug.”
It was too much. The heat. The children being in danger. Henry’s awful touch. Daisy’s knees buckled as her world faded to black.
Chapter Seven
“I hate her!” Kolt said to a big, black bull with snot running out of his nose. “My mom’s ugly and mean and—”
“You’d better watch talking about Mack like that, he’s liable to bite your nose.”
“Bulls don’t bite, Uncle Cash.” Kolt looked over to find his uncle looking way cool in his cowboy boots and hat and a huge, shiny belt buckle.
“But your mom does?”
Nose scrunched, Kolt asked, “What?”
His uncle whispered, “She always has been weird. I can’t count how many times she’s bitten me.”
Cracking a smile, Kolt gave his uncle a hug.
“What’s that for?”
“I wish you were my dad.” Kolt didn’t want to cry, but he couldn’t help it. The crying just came out.
“Hey, whoa,” his uncle soothed, rubbing his back. “There’s no crying at rodeos.”
“I—I’m sorry,” Kolt said.
“I’m teasing. You cry all you want.” Scooting over to a bench, Cash hefted Kolt onto his lap. Kolt didn’t want to look like a baby, but it sure felt good being loved. Especially now that he didn’t have a mom or dad who weren’t crazy. “So all joking aside, what happened?”
“Just stuff,” Kolt said, thinking back to how nuts his mom had acted and then how his dad hadn’t even done anything to stop her. Henry was awesome. Why would she act like that? “I hate both of my parents.”
“Since you won’t tell me what happened, all I can say for sure is that your mom and dad love you.”
Shaking his head, Kolt said, “I know for a fact she doesn’t, otherwise every time something fun happens she wouldn’t ruin it. I can’t even talk to my dad without her flipping out about something. And just now, I was gonna go with Henry and the twins and she freaked out again.”
“Hmm.” Uncle Cash seemed to think about that. “Maybe she’s just having a bad day.”
“Yeah, but she has one every day, and that means I never get to see my dad.” One of those real fancy rodeo queens passed. Kolt wriggled off Cash’s lap to sit beside him. “Do you know him? I mean, like are you friends?”
“Me and Luke?” Cash asked.
Kolt nodded.
“He’s a great guy. I’ve been friends with him my whole life and trust me, if your mom hadn’t kept you a secret, he’d have been the best dad any kid ever had—except for me.” Uncle Cash winked.
With no girls in sight, Kolt snuggled closer. “Really, I’m just gonna live with you and Wren and Robin now, okay?”
“Much as I’d love having another stud as handsome as myself in the house, that’s not going to work. Your mother would have my hide.” Cash swatted at a fly. “Not only that, but mark my words, you’re going to end up thinking Luke’s pretty amazing.”
“I don’t think so,” Kolt said with a firm shake of his head.
“Can you do me a favor and try liking him? Luke’s my friend, and I’d hate to have you not like him just because he’s not as handsome as me.”
Laughing, Kolt said, “You’re as crazy as my mom!”
“But darned good-looking, right?”
“WHERE ARE THE KIDS?” Daisy asked, abruptly waking in the shade of an oak, cradled in Luke’s capable arms. “Kolt? The twins? They’re not with Henry?”