Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(67)

“Why’d you beat me up, Kenny? I didn’t do anything to you.”

As he retrieved the hysterical baby, Petie arched his spine, trying to get away. His shrieks hurt Kenny’s ears, but the look of betrayal in the baby’s eyes broke Kenny’s heart.

“I’m sorry, fella. I’m so sorry.” Pressing his lips to his brother’s hot, damp temple, he carried him into the trees toward the rushing sound of the river. “Shhh . . . don’t cry. Don’t cry, scout. It’s all over.”

As he rocked and crooned, the baby’s sobs gradually subsided. He walked him along the riverbank, stroking his little back, humming and talking nonsense, letting the rush of the river soothe the baby as it used to soothe him when he came here to recover from some piece of nastiness he’d unleashed on Torie or one of his schoolmates. Finally, Petie quieted enough for Kenny to settle down in the shade of a bigtooth maple. He leaned against the trunk and propped the baby on his lap.

“I know, Petie. I know. . . .”

The little boy reared back his head, and Kenny saw a whole world of hurt in his eyes.

“I won’t ever do that to you again. I promise. The old man’s going to be bad enough. You don’t need it from me, too.”

Petie stuck out a trembly lip. He’d been betrayed, and he wasn’t going to forgive too easily.

Kenny used the bottom of the baby’s bright blue T-shirt to wipe his small, drooly chin. “You don’t have to win a race for me to love you, buddy. Do you understand? Despite what happened back there, I’m not like the old man. I don’t care if you’re last every time, if you stink at team sports. Even if the worst happens and you hate golf, it doesn’t matter. You understand me? We’re brothers forever.” He drew the baby up to his face and kissed his slobbery cheek. “You might have to win the old man’s love, scout, but I promise you won’t ever have to win mine.”

Emma stood in the middle of the crowd staring down at the wallet Kenny had thrust in her hand. After last night, she felt as if she’d been slapped.

Just as she was looking around for some privacy, she saw Ted Beaudine approaching. He gave her his shy smile. “I heard you were here, Lady Emma. Where’d Kenny go?”

“He left with Peter.”

“You look a little upset.”

Those old man’s eyes of his saw too much. “A little.” She opened her purse to slip in the wallet only to have him take it from her hand.

“Is this Kenny’s?”

“He shoved it at me right before he ran off.” She couldn’t stop herself from adding, “He told me I should buy something for myself.”

“No kidding.” Ted’s mouth curled in a slow smile. “My daddy’s rich, my ma’s good-looking, and this is my lucky day.”

Emma frowned as he tucked the wallet in his back pocket. “Your mother’s rich, too; I’ve heard your father looks like a movie star. And give that back to me.”

His hazel eyes crinkled at the corners. “Come on, Lady Emma. I’m a semi-impoverished twenty-two-year-old who just graduated from college and doesn’t have a job. Kenny, on the other hand’s, got more money than he has the energy to count. Let’s go enjoy ourselves.”

“Ted, I really don’t think—”

But he was already moving. Catching her arm, he led her toward the parking lot and a rather battered open-topped red Jeep with black roll bars. “If any of you see Kenny,” he called out to a group of teenagers, “tell him Lady Emma’s at the Roustabout.”

Emma found herself being driven away in a car with a set of golf clubs rattling in the back and a graduation tassel swinging from the rearview mirror. “Maybe you should let me have that wallet,” she said as the Roustabout came into view.

“I will. Later. After we use what’s in it.”

“We’re not spending Kenny’s money, no matter how much of it he has. It isn’t right.”

“Texas women wouldn’t see it that way. Women down here like their revenge. Do you know my parents once had a fight in this very parking lot? People still talk about it.”

“I suppose public arguments can get a little nasty.”

“Oh, this wasn’t an argument. It was a fight. Physical.” He chuckled. “I’d of loved to have seen that.”

“Bloodthirsty boy. And I don’t believe a word of it. Your parents have a wonderful marriage.”

“Now they do, but it took them a while to get there. My dad didn’t even know I existed till I was nine. They both had a lot of growing up to do.”

Coming from any other twenty-two-year-old, the comment would have been humorous, but there was something about Ted Beaudine that made her a believer.

As they got out of the car and walked toward the Roustabout, she said, “I’m surprised you don’t have a job yet. From what Torie and Kenny said, you have an excellent academic record.”

“Oh, I’ve had lots of offers, but I want to stay near Wynette.”

“You grew up here, didn’t you?”

“I grew up all over, but this is the place my family calls home, and I’m pretty attached to it.” He held the door open for her. “That limits me to two companies.”

“TCS and Dexter’s father’s company.”