Montana Love: Multicultural Romance Read online

  “Oh,” he said. “Do you like to play, because mommy plays with me all the time?”

  Cynthia looked over at Dex and the older lady, who were watching. She wiggled her fingers in a wave to acknowledge Miss Emma.

  “Sure, I like to play,” Cynthia said.

  “Okay then. You can stay,” Carson said. “She can stay!” he hollered over to Dex.

  All Cynthia could do was chuckle. She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. Carson was a handful; she could see that. But they would get along just fine. The kid had moxie that’s all; and he was clearly one of those brainy children, too old for their age. Yes; they would get along just fine.

  After spending a few more minutes chatting with Carson, Cynthia and the boy walked hand-in-hand in the yard so she could meet Miss Emma.

  After Carson finished introducing her, Miss Emma turned to Cynthia.

  “Well aren’t you as pretty as pie,” the old lady said. “And fresh, too,” she glanced at Dex giving her approval. Not like some of these gals running round here.”

  Cynthia was shocked at the seemingly nice little lady’s comment.

  Dex knew Miss Emma was referring to his own sister. He dropped his head and avoided the conversation. He’d learned long ago to carefully choose his battles. Apple had spun a reputation in Cattlewood, and it was not a good one.

  Cynthia gave the woman a curious glance, wondering what that was all about.

  “I’m sorry sugar, I didn’t mean to talk about you like you weren’t standing right there.”

  Miss Emma chatted a few minutes more before telling her she lived not too far away if she needed anything. She reminded her she would be picking Carson up for bible study soon.

  “You kids have a good night,” she said. “And Carson, you behave yourself for this nice lady, or as God is my witness, I will get my switch,” Miss Emma warned behind a wagging finger.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the little boy said, suddenly sounding his age.

  “Do you want to come in, have something to eat?” Cynthia asked Dex after Miss Emma drove off. She caught herself as quickly as she’d said it, remembering the blonde who had planted him with a kiss.

  Dex hesitated, looking down at his sweaty and dirty appearance.

  “You can bring, err, your girlfriend,” Cynthia added quickly so he didn’t get the wrong idea.

  Dex looked at her and smiled.

  “You mean my sister,” he said.

  Cynthia gave him a puzzled looked.

  “The girlfriend I assume you’re referring to is the lady from the barn.” He nodded toward the barn where Apply had kissed him earlier.

  Cynthia nodded.

  “That was Apple “And she’s my dear sister.”

  “But…”

  “Color doesn’t make family,” he said, knowing what she was getting ready to say. It wouldn’t have been the first time a newcomer to the area questioned it.

  Cynthia smiled, feeling silly. “You’re right, and I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly remembering the lady Martin had had the affair with was named Apple, too. She knew it had to be the same lady. Small town. Cynthia shelved the thought, just relieved the lady was not Dex’s woman. “Let’s start over,” she said. “Would you like to come in for some dinner?”

  “I would love to,” he said. “But let me freshen up first,” he gestured toward his homestead in the distance. In one swoop, he hopped up on the tall stallion.

  “Good, we’ll see you in a little while. And bring an appetite, because Thelma left a huge casserole.”

  Dex smiled, already knowing it was the meatball, sweet potato, and macaroni casserole he’d prepared and given to Thelma. It was Carson’s favorite meal, one they had created together.

  “Come on, Carson,” Cynthia said. “I have a snack for you in the house.”

  “But I want to go with Uncle Dex. Carson pulled away from Cynthia, but the look on his face told her he was half-way considering the snack.

  “Stay with Cynthia, Bud,” Dex said, using the nickname he’d given the child. “Your favorite meal is in the house already.”

  “Our recipe?” the boy asked.

  “Mm-hmmm,” Dex said, smiling.

  Carson inched back toward Cynthia.

  “Go ahead, I’ll be right back,” he chuckled. He and the child did have a special bond. Dex treated Carson as if he were kin; he treated him the way he would have liked his blood father, had he known him, to treat him.

  Cynthia reached her hand out to Carson.

  “Go on,” Dex laughed. “I don’t think she’ll bite.”

  Cynthia picked up on his flirtatious undertone.

  Carson put his hand in hers.

  Cynthia mouthed a thank you before Dex dipped his head and rode off in the distance.

  The boy looked up at Cynthia staring at Dex’s wide frame galloping away on top of the horse.

  He tugged at her hand so she would look down at him. “Are you and my Uncle Dex going to get married?”

  Cynthia chuckled and clasped her hand snug around the child’s fingers.

  “Come on little one,” she laughed. “Let’s get you fed.”

  Chapter 8

  As Dex drove home to freshen up, his mind flitted to the comment Miss Emma had made about Apple.

  His big sisters’ promiscuity had started back when she was a teenager, but he knew it wasn’t her fault. He thought about the man he knew as his father and the blows they had come to about him messing with Apple.

  He remembered the woman he knew as his mother seeming to choose the side of her husband instead of her own daughter. As he grew, he understood that she, too, was a victim of her husband’s stern hand in how he ruled the Callahan land empire. Dex had never seen his father lay a hand on his mother, but he knew he ruled her just the same.

  He remembered trying to get his sister to come away to college with him, where no one would bother her, because he couldn’t protect her in their home; not the way things were.

  But Apple would not leave with him; she stayed on in Cattlewood, and she grew into a young woman who sprouted all the seeds of promiscuity planted by their father’s sexual abuse.

  Dex could not help his sister then; but she could help her own self now, if she chose to get the help she needed.

  He knew from his own past, being an adopted child and not knowing his real people, his true self, that scar was not an issue he could just sweep under the rug. The fact that he did not know his real parents had a real impact on it. He did not trust, open up, let people in easily, but he did know, early on, he had to deal with that truth so his birth parent’s choices did not dictate the man he would ultimately become.

  Thanks to his football coach at MSU, he received the guidance through counseling he needed to face his fears and his truth. It made him a better player, a better man, a better person. And it made him a more spiritual being.

  But Apple would not entertain the idea of counseling or any such ‘nonsense’ when he suggested it over the years. She was intent on living her life without anyone being able to tell her a darn thing.

  She enjoyed the attention of men -- and lots of them. And there was nothing wrong with that, in her opinion. Occasionally, they were men who were the husbands of other women. But she was quick to tout, “If a woman can’t keep her own man’s eyes from wandering that has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

  Dex had gotten into many brawls trying to protect his sister over the years, and he could see she was at a point where she was spiraling out of control.

  And little did she know, landing in Thelma’s husband’s bed could bring her a reality she wasn’t ready for …

  Chapter 9

  Thelma glanced over at her husband of eight years. Martin’s head was tilted back on the center aisle seat of the airplane and his mouth was open when the captain came over the loud speaker. They had spent the layover the night before in a hotel in Los Angeles. Pretending that night in the Ritz was their wedding night, they’d made love like newlyweds, before r
ising early that morning to catch their connecting flight on Fiji Airways. It had been a long flight, but they were almost in Nadi International Airport, the main airport for the Republic of Fiji. Tokoriki Island, the destination of their resort hotel, sat less than fifty miles away.

  “We should be landing in Nadi International in about twenty minutes,” the captain echoed though the overhead speaker. “For those of you going on to the islands, see the flight attendant at the gate for your commuter flight transport information. Due to weather, you might experience a slight delay before your departure.”

  Bone-tired from work, and the workout she’d put on him the night before, Thelma knew Martin was spent. He was a fine man, a good provider and a wonderful, patient father, and she loved him to death.

  But he’d made that one mistake in judgement. Just that one.

  Thelma tried for a long time to forgive and forget, but she couldn’t. Each time she came close to forgiving Martin for the affair, the vision of her own father came to mind.

  Theodore Thaxton, III had made plenty of errors in judgment; ever since she could remember. Thelma was just a girl, but she was old enough to hear her parent’s arguments and understand what they were fighting about.

  Her father was a serial cheater, and her mother had had just about enough. During the last big fight, she’d vowed to leave him, but the car crash happened before she did. Thelma knew it was no accident; her father had her mother killed. Their home was a big one in Bel Air Estates, but she could hear everything going on in the library from her bedroom … she overheard her paying the man he’d hired to compromise wires on her mother’s Mercedes.

  That was a long time ago, but Thelma remembered it like it was yesterday. One day her mom was there, and the next day she wasn’t; all because her daddy wanted to have lots of women.

  Tears crept into Thelma’s eyes as she thought about Carson. She loved their son.

  She knew Martin did, too. The boy was the light in both their eyes.

  But Martin made a mistake cheating with Apple Callahan. And he had to pay for that … he had to.

  Sometimes when she looked at Martin, she saw her father. She knew they were different men; but she saw him just the same.

  Her daddy had long passed.

  But Martin was still alive. And though she loved him -- she loved them both -- he had made that one fatal mistake by sleeping with Apple Callahan.

  Chapter 10

  Several hours later …

  Thelma and Martin had boarded the little commuter plane for the islands. The weather had been choppy, so they’d had an extended delay at Nadi International. Thelma could have used the opportunity to call Cynthia, but she chose not to because she didn’t want to worry her; she knew she’d called once they landed in Fiji. The commuter flight was less fifteen minutes in total, so she decided she’d call as soon as they landed.

  ***

  They had been in the air less than ten minutes when the wind began swatting the little two-engine plane back and forth like it was a paper towel in the sky.

  “I don’t want to die, Martin,” Thelma said, holding her husband’s hand so tight her knuckles were white.

  “Shhh, we’ll be okay,” Martin tried to reassure.

  Thelma could hear the nervousness in her husband’s voice, which made her more scared.

  “It’s just a little turbulence,” he said.

  The lights in the cabin went dark and the captain attempted to come over the loud speaker.

  “Folks make sure your seatbelts are fastened...” The loud speaker was barely audible before a loud bout of static. Then silence. A harrowing few seconds later that felt like an eternity, the captain came back on. “Flight attendants, please take your seats.” Restrained panic filled the captain’s voice.

  More static. Then the plane dropped several feet causing several overhead bins to pop open.

  Passengers wailed as luggage went careening through the cabin.

  “Flight attendants… prepare … emergency landing!”

  The plane sped up and tilted in a downward spiral. Several passengers started screaming as the speed of the drop increased. The pressure dropped and throughout the cabin, little clear and yellow air masks cold be seen dropping from their compartments in the ceiling. Gravity left and the aircraft spun in a nosedive toward the dark sea below.

  Chapter 11

  Less than forty five minutes later, Dex was back at the front door, ready for dinner with Cynthia and Carson.

  “Hello,” he said through the screen door, not wanting to just walk in, as he was accustomed to doing when Martin and Thelma were home.

  “Come on in!” Cynthia hollered from the kitchen.

  Little footsteps filled the hallway.

  “Uncle Dex, what are you standing out there for?” Carson said opening the door and pulling him by the hand toward the kitchen.

  Dex chuckled. “Because there’s a lady in the house and a man can’t just walk in on her.”

  “But you walk in all the time when daddy and mama are home.”

  “That’s different,” Dex said, hoisting him up on his shoulder.

  “Take a seat,” Cynthia said motioning but not turning around. She was slipping oven mittens on her hands. “We were just getting ready to sit down and start.”

  “Sorry I took so long,” Dex said, walking to the counter to grab the plates out of the dish cabinet. He already knew where they were.

  Cynthia bent and reached into the oven to take out the warmed casserole.

  Dex couldn’t help it that his eyes landed on her round bottom as she bent toward the oven. The soft fabric of her dress accented her shapely body.

  “I thought I’d give you two a chance to get acquainted,” he said, enjoying being in the kitchen next to her.

  Cynthia turned and looked at Dex, the casserole in her hand. The sight of him, all cleaned up, took her breath away. He was dressed in loose-fitting, worn jeans and a soft chambray t-shirt. Unshaven, his blue eyes sparkled when he interacted with Carson. The sight of them warmed her heart.

  The sound of Carson plopping the plastic glasses on the table filled the room.

  “I already knew that,” she smiled. “And thank you.”

  “Yeah, thanks Uncle Dex. Miss Cynthia is not a stranger anymore.”

  The two chuckled as they finished setting the table.

  Over dinner, Carson was quite the chatter box. They let him rattle on and on about his time with Miss Emma and four year old stuff. Cynthia did manage to find out Dex had been in Montana all of his life, but for college and his stint playing pro-football.

  Dex asked about her career and a little but Carson was the center of the conversation. They both wanted to keep his mind off the fact that his parents were away. He was okay for now, but they both secretly wondered about bedtime.

  After eating dinner, the men cleared the table and washed the dishes while Cynthia stored the leftovers and whipped up a pitcher of lemonade using the fresh lemons Thelma had in the hanging baskets near the pantry.

  As they were tidying up, she couldn’t help but peek over at them. Carson was kneeling in a chair at the sink getting more suds on him than he was on the dishes, and Dex was standing next to him drying.

  It was sheer bliss watching them talking and laughing.

  A family would be nice one day, she surprised herself thinking. Real nice.

  Dex caught her staring as she was stirring the lemonade.

  “Yes?” he said smiling, as if reading her mind.

  “I didn’t say anything,” she blushed.

  “Yes you did. Maybe not with your mouth,” he said. “But you spoke. He smiled then turned his attention back to Carson and the mess he was making with the sudsy water.

  Cynthia chuckled and shook her head at the two of them.

  After finishing up in the kitchen, they all moved out to the back porch to let their food digest, but the child had ants in his pants and couldn’t sit still for long.

  Dex laughed, knowing
what he had to do to tire him out. Within minutes, they were in the backyard washing Carson’s new Labrador Retriever. Martin had gotten the puppy for his son before they left, hoping it would give him something to focus on besides missing them.

  Cynthia relaxed in the large wooden chair with her feet curled up watching them. She could tell he was a good man, and so patient with Carson. Enjoying every second of his company, she couldn’t deny the mounting physical attraction between them.