LITMIR.BIZ

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behind his tough exterior. The way he’d included her in his gang at school, so she’d never had one day of strangeness after she and her father moved to Engerville. It was that time she’d been caught shooting a rubber band at him in study hall and gotten detention. He’d immediately confessed his own involvement and shared the detention with her, grinning behind his notebook, winking lazily when the teacher turned her back, so what had been intended as punishment turned into a favorite memory.

      Behind her Cat heard the door close. Whirling around, her musing interrupted, she saw Joey emerge from the house, her white pajamas easily visible in the moonlight. Her unplanned daughter.

      “Mom? Where were you? I woke up and you weren’t there.”

      “Sorry, Teddy Bear. I came outside for a breath of fresh air. Why’d you wake up?”

      Joey rubbed her eyes and yawned, her pink mouth sweet and small, even when stretched wide. “I don’t know. I think I had a bad dream.”

      Cat reached out and tousled Joey’s dark hair, allowing her hand to slide down her daughter’s cheek in a soft caress. “Were you scared?”

      “No-o-o, I don’t think so. It was just a funny dream.”

      “Want to tell me about it?” Her daughter’s petulant shrug was Jackson. The winsome glance out the corner of her eyes to see what effect it had on her mother had been borrowed from an expert at capturing his audience’s interest.

      “Nah…I don’t remember. Will you come in now? I want to go back to sleep, but I can’t sleep if you’re out here.”

      The sweet pleading was her daughter’s own contribution, Cat thought. She smiled. “You’re still my baby girl, aren’t you?”

      “I’m not a baby anymore, but I like it when you’re in the house with me.”

      “That’s okay, sweetie. I like it when I know where you are, too.”

      Joey’s head tilted sideways as she looked up. “Would you ever leave me, Mom?”

      Cat was shocked. “No! Whatever caused you to think such a terrible thing? Did you dream that?”

      Narrow shoulders shrugged again. “Not exactly, but kinda. Do you love me?” Her innocent voice begged reassurance.

      “Teddy Bear, we belong together. I’m your mommy and you’re my darling girl. We’ll always be together. Except,” she paused dramatically, “when you run off to marry Tommy Karl.”

      Joey giggled. “That won’t be for a long time. Tommy said we have to be sixteen. That’s almost forever.”

      “Right, darling.” Cat tried to smile and found it an effort. The first eight years of Joey’s life had passed so fast. Would the next eight go as swiftly? And when her daughter did get old enough to fall in love and marry, would Cat be alone again? This time for the rest of her life?

      VERY EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Cass came into Jackson’s bedroom and woke him from a tantalizing dream. It vanished from his memory the moment he opened his eyes and saw his sister’s elfin smile above him. “Early, isn’t it?” he mumbled, seeing no light at all behind the blinds he’d closed over the bedroom window.

      She knelt beside his cot. “I’m getting an early start. I can’t wait to see the baby. And Sam. Now that you’re here, I feel okay about leaving Pop.”

      Jackson grinned sleepily as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, ignored the clothes in his duffel and followed Cass into the living room. Grabbing her suitcase away from her, he threw his free arm around her shoulders. “Let’s fly, chickadee.”

      “I’ll get the door for you, since you’re stretching those Marine muscles for me.”

      A few minutes later, standing beside the car, her suitcase safely stowed in the trunk, Cass gave him a last tight hug. “Try not to argue with Pop, Jackson. Okay?”

      “Who? Me?”

      “Duh-h-h! Who else? Seriously, Jackson. Do it for me, will you? Agree with him.”

      “On everything?”

      “Would it hurt so much?”

      “Okay, okay. I promise.”

      “I love you, Jackson.”

      “Me, too, runt.”

      “You’re supposed to say you love me back.”

      “I did.”

      She sighed. “You’ll never change, will you? Think about it, Jackson. Think about loving somebody else more than you do yourself. Think about admitting it when you do. You might even find out you like it.”

      She started the car and waved as she left, tossing a last phrase at him. “I’ll call.”

      A swell of discontent washed over Jackson along with the dust Cass’s car kicked up in its wake. He wasn’t a selfish idiot thinking only of himself. His sister should know that. He still wasn’t sure from what direction Cat Darnell was coming. He could’ve sworn she’d been glad to see him at first, but then she’d turned colder than a winter blizzard. Who could understand women? He tightened his hands into fists as he launched his body toward the porch. He had too much to do to waste time wondering what either woman wanted to tell him.

      EVERY NIGHT SINCE Jackson Gray had returned to town, Cat went to sleep remembering the solid feel of Jackson’s chest beneath her cheek. Every morning, she rose from bed a little quicker than usual, always glancing out the window toward Will Gray’s farm. Every day drove her depression a little deeper. Her hostility had forced him away. Her open anger kept him at a distance. She’d not seen him for years and now, when he was home, she’d made sure he wouldn’t come around.

      She’d missed him every single day since he’d left Engerville, but if he came around now, he could discover the truth about Joey. She had to keep that from happening at any cost. If that meant not seeing the only man she’d ever loved, then so be it. Nothing mattered more than Joey and keeping the ranch for her.

      Two weeks after she’d given Jackson a lift to his father’s farm, she stood watching Joey canter Moonshot, a strawberry roan filly, around the paddock. Wearing her daily uniform of jeans, T-shirt and riding helmet, she sat in the old English hunting saddle as if she’d been born in it, despite it being too large for her.

      Joey brought the filly to an easy stop beside her mother. “Can I jump her, Mom? Just some little baby jumps? Please?”

      Cat shook her head. “In a week or two, we’ll start her. Not yet. She’s a green girl, just like you. We don’t want to spoil her.”

      “Oh, Mom, she’s so good. I know she’ll like jumping! Please?”

      Cat frowned. Her daughter saw the look and knew she’d pushed too hard.

      “Never mind. Next week will be okay, won’t it, Moonshot?” She rubbed the filly’s neck and gave her mother a sly look.

      The filly snorted and tossed her head.

      Cat laughed. “I caught that sneaky little try. Maybe next week, but not for certain. It depends.”

      “Sure…sure. I know you’ll let us. You know, too, don’t you, girl?” Joey leaned forward and pulled a hank of hair straight, flipping it back over the filly’s neck so it lay on the same side with the rest of the coarse mane.

      “I’d place a small bet that says you will, too,” a husky voice near Cat’s ear agreed.

      Cat jumped, so startled she knocked her coffee cup off the rail. Moonshot shied as the cup rolled near her and sprang sideways in a series of hopping jumps.

      “Oops,” Jackson said. “I’m sorry, kid! Hang on!”

      Joey gripped tighter with her knees, while going easy on the reins, and gently brought her mount back to a standstill.

      “Are

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