Only Yours (Fool's Gold #5)(74)

“You don’t suppose…” Dakota’s voice trailed off.

They all looked at her.

“What?” Nevada demanded, then shook her head. “No. No way. I don’t accept that.”

“Accept what?” Kent asked.

Montana was about to ask the same question, when she realized where Dakota’s mind had gone.

If Max had come first, was it possible their mother had been pregnant when she married Ralph? Pregnant with Max’s baby?

“I don’t believe that,” Montana said.

“Believe what?” Kent demanded. “I hate it when you guys do this.”

“What if Mom was pregnant with Max’s baby when she married Dad?” Montana asked. “That would make Ethan our half brother.”

“You three are crazy.” Kent continued to play with Hannah. The baby grinned happily as she bounced on his lap. “Ethan is not our half brother. Have you seen him? He looks exactly like Dad. Whatever was going on with Max, it has nothing to do with the six of us. You’re searching for trouble where it doesn’t exist.”

The sisters looked at each other. “He has a point,” Dakota said. “It’s just Max is kind of dangerous and sexy, even now. Imagine what he was like thirty-five years ago.”

“Do I have to?” Kent asked.

“She’s right.” Nevada shifted in her seat. “Max is the kind of guy who sweeps a woman off her feet. They have to have been together first. I can’t believe Mom was dating Dad, left him for Max, got a tattoo and then went back with Dad.”

“We have to figure out what happened between them,” Dakota said.

“Not necessarily. We don’t consider Dad a sexy guy, but we weren’t dating him,” Montana pointed out. “They were always crazy about each other. Maybe it was love at first sight. Maybe Dad came between Max and Mom.”

“One of you should talk to her,” Kent said.

Nevada raised her eyebrows. “One of us? Why one of us? Why not you? Or is this a girl thing?”

“It’s exactly a girl thing. The only thing Mom and I talk about is how much she hates Lorraine.” He sighed. “Okay, that’s not fair, but I can see it’s on her mind. I am not asking our mother about her love life when she was a teenager.”

“Coward,” Dakota said with a grin. “You men are so emotionally delicate.”

“I’ll do it,” Montana said. “I haven’t been to see her in a while. I’ll talk to her about Simon and then ease the conversation into past loves and Max.”

“Do you really think she’ll be fooled? Nevada asked.

“No, but I can pretend she will be. I’ll ask and report back.”

SIMON FOUND HIMSELF at a large table at the Fox and Hound, surrounded by women. Some were younger, like Charity Golden, the town’s city planner. Others were well past the age of consent, as one of his favorite nurses used to say. Women able to get a senior discount without showing ID. Mayor Marsha fell into that category, as did several other city council members and a rather stern-looking seventyish woman in a bright yellow tracksuit. Her name was Eddie something and she was the one who had told him he needed to make an honest woman of Montana.

So far the conversation had been pleasant. The women had chatted about various things happening around town. He’d been brought up to date on Pia’s twins, Dakota Hendrix’s pregnancy, the upcoming groundbreaking for a new casino resort north of town, and the fact that the Castle Ranch had finally been purchased by a family who seemed as if they were going to stay.

On the ranch front, someone had said something about a woman named Heidi who raised goats and lived with her grandfather, but he figured they had to be making that up.

Lunch had been ordered and delivered, food mostly eaten and still no one mentioned the actual reason for the meeting. That they were going to do their best to convince him to stay.

He was used to the pressure. It happened everywhere he went. He’d had village chieftains offer him everything from chickens to virgin daughters. In more westernized areas, the enticements included money, positions on boards, stock options and the occasional daughter, with no promise of virginity made.

Their server came and cleared the plates. Simon glanced toward the door and wondered if he could simply make a run for it. Glancing at the women seated around him, he doubted he could make it to the door before them. Senior citizens or not, they were determined.

“I’m sure you’ve guessed why we asked you to join us for lunch,” Mayor Marsha said.

“I have an idea.”

“You’ve brought so much to this community,” she continued. “Your work is extraordinary, but it’s more than that. You have a dedication to your patients that touches us all. You care and we respect that.”

Care? He saw himself as brilliant, gifted and, at times, a complete tyrant. But caring? Had they met him?

“One of the things that makes Fool’s Gold a unique community is that we are so much more than a group of people who happen to live in the same place. We have an emotional bond that makes us more like a family. Many of us can trace our roots back several generations.”

“The Hendrixes are one of our founding families,” Eddie said helpfully. “You like Montana, right?”

One of the other women shushed her.