As his language deteriorated through this recitation I figured his mood deteriorated too.

He wasn’t done.

“Obviously, this set Reesee off. She’s hurt and hidin’ it by bein’ pissed. She wants to call the whole thing off. No has offered to get the food for me today and he can get the decorations but Reesee’s angry and standin’ firm she wants to bag it. I’ve given my girl a birthday party every year since she was five. This is not gonna be the year the tradition ends because Audrey’s got her head up her fuckin’ ass. I don’t know how long I’ll be in Indy so I don’t know if I can sort the extra shit in time, including decorating the house and I definitely cannot bake a fuckin’ cake. First, I’ve never baked a cake in my fuckin’ life. Second, that was her Mom’s gig. The one good Mom thing Audrey always did was make great fuckin’ cakes for the kids’ birthdays. This will be the first time in fifteen years my girl isn’t gonna get one.” He paused and I knew he was preparing me with that pause before he finished quietly, “Sorry, sweetheart. To salvage my girl’s day, I need you to step up.”

Oh boy, he needed me to do Mom things with Clarisse.

Already.

No, that wasn’t right. Because Clarisse had a loser for a Mom, Clarisse needed me.

“Right,” I said to Mike, “give me five seconds to control my impulse to hunt down your ex-wife and bitch slap some sense into her. Then go out and open your back gate. I’ll be over in a minute.”

There was a moment’s silence before I got a soft, “Thanks, Angel.”

“No problem, babe.”

Then he asked, “You know how to bake?”

“Not only do I know how to bake, I can decorate the shit out of a cake.”

I heard Mike chuckle.

Then he delighted me by saying, “Control your violent impulse and get over here. My guess is, you steppin’ up is gonna make Reesee’s day. She talked about you a lot last night. All of it good.”

“She did?” I asked and it sounded all breathy.

Mike heard the breathy, read it, liked it and his voice was quiet and warm when he replied, “She did. First time in a long time I had the Reesee I’ve known for years. She liked your coat. Your belt. Your boots. Your fingernail polish. Your jewelry. The sound of your voice. Your hair. And the way you handled Fin, because, she let slip, Fin is messed up about his Dad but refuses to show it.”

I thought the first part of that was awesome, the last bit interesting. I figured my nephew and his daughter had connected but I didn’t know the level. Now I had a guess.

“That’s a lot of things she liked,” I remarked.

“Yeah.” And that word was quiet and warm too.

“All right, honey, open the gate. I’ll be over soon to save the day.”

That got me another chuckle then, “See you soon, Angel.”

“Soon, Mike.”

I hit the button for off, shoved the phone in my pocket, put my glove back on and finished saddling Moonshine. Then I led my baby girl out of the barn, closed the doors to keep the cold off Blaise, swung up on her back and let her loose, galloping across the short expanse from the farmhouse to the opened gate that was seven in, smack in the middle.

Then Moonshine and I galloped right into Mike’s postage stamp backyard where we stopped.

I was dismounting when the backdoor opened and all three members of the Haines family walked out, the male two smiling huge and the female staring. Standoffish a memory, her mouth was hanging open.

Mike’s dog came with and the golden retriever bounced straight toward Moonshine, the dog visibly shivering with excitement at this unprecedented turn of events.

“Jesus, Dusty,” Mike called, his voice vibrating with laughter.

“Total…freaking…cool!” No shouted.

Rees just stared at me as I led Moonshine and a bouncing retriever up to the back deck.

“Hey, guys,” I greeted.

Mike crossed his arms on his chest at the same time he burst out laughing.

“Layla, come here, girl! Here, girl! Away from the big, honkin’ horse in the backyard,” No called, slapping his thighs at the dog, his words like his Dad’s, vibrating with laughter.

Layla. Clapton. Great name.

I grinned my approval at Mike who was smiling and still chuckling at me.

Then I looked to Rees. “Get your jacket, honey. You and I are going decoration shopping and baking a cake.”

She blinked.

Then she asked, “We are?”

Nice. Mike gave me the good part, sharing the news.

“We are,” I answered. “Let’s go. You’re riding back with me to the farm so I can change out of horse clothes and we can go.”

“I’m riding back?” she asked.

“Yep,” I answered then looked at Mike who was still smiling at me. This was a different smile. A better one. “You need to hang around for a minute, babe. Give her a lift up onto the back of Moonshine.”

“I can do that,” Mike muttered then turned to his girl. “Get your jacket, honey.”

She tipped her head back at him. Then she nodded. Then she dashed into the house, all excited teenage girl.

Oh yes, standoffish gone.

“Can I have a ride sometime?” No asked and I looked at him to see he was barely containing an uncontainable Layla by her collar.

“You ride?” I asked back.

“Never,” he answered.

“You want lessons, I have two horses. Just come over and we’ll get you up on one.”

“Awesome,” he breathed.

I grinned.

“Rees too?” he asked.

“She wants it, my horses need exercise. You’d be doing me a favor.”

“Dig it!” he exclaimed.

I saw it then. His boyish exuberance. Fin stopped being like that at least a year ago.

“Get Layla in the house, No, will you?” Mike asked.

“Sure Dad,” No answered and looked at me as he led a still excited Layla to the door calling, “See you later, Dusty.”

“Later, honey.”

Then they were gone.

Mike moved off the deck toward me.

Then he was at me and I knew we probably didn’t have a lot of time because when he got there, he curled a hand warm on my neck and dipped his head but only for a peck on the lips. And I knew I got that because he didn’t want his kids to catch him giving me more but his eyes stated clearly he wanted to give it to me.

“Both my kids love animals. Rees just went from Mom hell to cloud nine,” he whispered, not, thankfully, moving his hand.

“Excellent,” I whispered back.

The light in his eyes that was residual humor died away but they warmed in a way that made the area around my heart warm too.

“Thank you, Angel.” He was still whispering but the words came from the heart.

“Anytime, honey.” I was still whispering too.

His hand gave me a squeeze and the backdoor opened. I lost his hand as Mike stepped aside, turned and I looked to Rees. She had an attractive, light pink corduroy jacket on, a beige fluffy scarf wrapped around her neck making her thick, gorgeous hair fluff out around it like it had been arranged for a photo shoot, matching mittens and a cute little purse with a short strap tucked under her shoulder.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she replied quietly.

Getting the hint Thursday night and that morning that PDA between us was something Mike wanted to introduce gradually to his kids, I reached out, grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. He squeezed back. I let go and mounted Moonshine.

Then I watched with no small amount of fascination as Mike lifted his fifteen year old daughter in his arms like she was four years old and deposited her on the horse behind me.

“See you later,” I called to Mike who was stepping back as I wheeled Moonshine around.

“Later, Dad!” Rees called, her voice louder and livelier than I’d ever heard from her.

“Later,” Mike called back and I walked Moonshine out.

Once we cleared the gate I twisted my head and said, “Hold on a little tighter, Rees. I’m gonna give Moonshine her head.”

She held on tighter and then she asked a question, engaging me for the first time, “Her name is Moonshine?”

“Yep,” I replied as we went from walk to canter.

“That’s cool,” she decreed.

“Thanks. My other horse is named Blaise.”

“Awesome,” she murmured as I took Moonshine from a walk to a gentle gallop.

I wasn’t surprised as we approached the house to see Fin exiting the backdoor with his kickass, farmer boy, sheepskin-lined jeans jacket on. He’d probably seen me ride over to Mike’s. He’d definitely seen the cargo I was carrying when we rode back.

I slowed when I got close to him and an idea popped into my head. And, as usual, I had it then I went with it.

I stopped by Fin who looked up at me and smiled a small smile then he looked at Rees.

“Hey, Rees,” he greeted.

“Hey, Fin,” she said quietly.

Seeing as my brother loved me, every year he brought his family to wherever I was at least once but often twice. This was usually Thanksgiving, Christmas or my birthday. Since I’d had horses as long as I could afford to have them, this meant Finley and Kirby had been on the back of them since they were little. And when they got bigger, they got lessons from Aunt Dusty. Both of them took to them, having natural seats.

Fin could totally take Moonshine and Rees out on a ride while I saw to preparing for a fifteen year old girl’s birthday party hours earlier than I’d planned.

Therefore, I asked, “Fin, honey, Moonshine needs her exercise and I gotta go in and get ready to take Rees out. It’ll be boring for her to hang out while I do my makeup and stuff. Can you do me a favor and take them for a ride?”

Fin’s face took on a look I tried not to let scare me considering, if Mike saw it, he’d grab his daughter and lock her in a basement somewhere or, possibly, shoot Fin dead immediately with his service weapon.

“Sure,” Fin replied casually.

Casual my ass.

I suppressed my grin and twisted to look at Clarisse who was gazing down at Fin like she wanted to pour chocolate sauce on him and eat him up.

Oh boy, definitely rethinking my decision.

Still, I’d had it, I’d gone with it and there I was.

“That okay with you, Rees?” I asked, she tore her eyes from Fin and looked at me.

“Uh…sure,” she replied softly.

“Great,” I said, flicked the reins to Fin who caught them easily and swung my leg around forward. I pulled my other foot out of the stirrup, twisted at the last second and, using the pommel to control my fall, I expertly slid down Moonshine’s side.

Fin instantly moved in but I caught his forearm.

He looked down at me and I got close, tipping my head back and keeping his gaze captive.

“Precious cargo, Fin,” I whispered very quietly.

“I know,” he whispered back the same and my fingers tensed around his forearm.

“I know you know, honey,” I kept up with the whispering. “And a good thing to do is let her know you know it too.”

He held my eyes, his flaring with something I liked and it made my stomach do a little flip.

I’d seen that before a lot over the years but I was stunned to see it so early from Fin.

Darrin’s eyes flared like that when he looked at Rhonda. Anytime he looked at her when she was being Rhonda and her quirks were showing. Darrin didn’t love his wife despite her idiosyncrasies. They were what drew him to her. My brother was a man who had a deep, protective instinct. So deep he had tons to spare. So he found himself a woman who needed him, a woman he could protect daily as well as love. A woman he could look after.

I didn’t think Rees was like Rhonda.

What I got from that flare in my nephew’s eyes was that he was like Darrin.

He liked Rees and he wouldn’t let any harm come to her but more, he was thrilled to be given the opportunity to demonstrate this.

I totally, completely loved my nephew. I knew this from the instant he was born. But I rejoiced in it then, looking into his eyes because it made me understand that Darrin wasn’t really dead since that part of him was alive in his son.

He nodded.

Instead of crying, I grinned.

Then I let him go and stepped away calling, “Give me forty-five minutes, an hour. Yeah?”

Fin was adjusting the stirrups for his extra height and he muttered, “Yeah.”

I looked up at Clarisse and saw her watching Fin like he was not Finley Holliday adjusting the stirrups on a saddle but a Hollywood movie star working out shirtless with weights.

When Fin was done, without delay, he put a boot into the stirrup, a hand to the saddlehorn in front of Rees and he swung up behind her like he did it every day of his life.