Luke was as good as his word. He showed up every single day and brought various gifts for both Hannah and Stevie. The gifts ranged from chocolates, hair combs, simple jewelry and other odds and ends he’d found that he thought Hannah would like. For Stevie, he brought more interesting books and educational toys that allowed Luke to teach Stevie a wide variety of information. It became a habit for Luke to have lunch with Stevie and Hannah before he took Stevie to the house for his nap. It also became a habit for him to seek out Hannah before he returned to town and have a conversation with her that always ended with some simple touch and words of love and desire.
After a week or so, Luke would look for some way in which he could assist with the various efforts and programs WFR
offered. He didn’t do it in such a way it annoyed Hannah’s staff, and often, a
staff person would comment on how nice and helpful Luke had been.
Joe and Dave were still with Hannah
and initially ignored Luke’s overtures of friendship, but when they observed
how he treated Hannah and especially Stevie, their anger and disgust slowly
abated. Hannah saw the three of them together a number of times in the dining
hall having coffee. Dale, who hadn’t known Luke before also became an admirer
and supporter.
Hannah, meanwhile, was trying
desperately to hang on to her anger and ignore Luke’s gifts and his attention
to Stevie. She reminded herself over and over how she’d felt the day Jamison
had said all those horrid things. She tried so hard to ignore the memories of
their time together at the waterfall and even in Luke’s bed in the house. Some
days it was especially hard to keep from throwing herself into Luke’s arms, or
leaning toward his body when he was close by. What made hanging on to the hurt
and anger even harder was watching Luke with Stevie.
So far, Hannah had refused to tell
Stevie that Luke was actually his father. Luke had broached the subject a
couple of times and finally told Hannah to let him know when she was ready to
have Stevie know exactly who he was.
Before Jamison’s tirade, Hannah had
dreamed about how it would be with their child and them. Now, she watched those
dreams become reality, but she wasn’t part of that reality. Their daily lunch
times had become the most difficult part of Hannah’s days. She even tried to
not have lunch, but the two of them would seek her out.
“Mom, hey mom, did you forget it’s
lunch time?” Stevie would call out as the two of them approached. It didn’t
seem to matter where she tried to hide, it was as if she were wearing one of
those GPS things because they always found her.
“C’mon mom, I’m starvin’ and Dale’s
fixed taco stuff today. You know how much I like tacos. I bet I could eat ten I’m so hungry.” Stevie claimed as he let go of Luke’s hand and grabbed
hers and began pulling. “C’mon mom, get up. It took forever to find you. What
are you doing up here anyway?”
“Just talking to my Gramps and leaving
him some flowers.” Hannah responded, pretending Stevie was strong enough to
pull her to her feet. She was really annoyed at being interrupted because she’d
thought they’d never look for her up here. What she wanted to do was scream,
but she took a deep breath and told Stevie, “Well, if you’re that hungry, maybe
you can beat me to the dining hall.”
Hannah took off running, leaving Luke
and Stevie behind. “Hey, no fair, mom, you didn’t say go.” Stevie called after
her.
That was followed by a big, “Yahooooooooo.”
And Hannah looked back to find Stevie on Luke’s shoulders and Luke running as
fast as he could. She wished she had a camera so she could have a photo to look
at later because it was such a beautiful sight. Stevie held Luke’s cowboy hat
over his with one hand and grasped a big clump of Luke’s hair in the other.
That had to hurt like hell because as Stevie bounced up and down on Luke’s
shoulders, each time he flew up, Luke’s hair was pulled straight. Hannah didn’t
understand how she could want to cry and laugh at the same time. So, she turned
back and headed for the dining hall.
Surprisingly, Luke and Stevie weren’t
all that far behind Hannah and she’d barely claimed a table when they arrived.
Stevie was still on Luke’s shoulders, braying with laughter. Luke looked like
he was about ready to fall over, sweat running from beneath his hair and down
his face. He approached the table and pulled Stevie from his shoulders and put
him into a chair.
“Stevie, you have to remember to tell
me to never do that again.” Luke said as he collapsed into a chair. “I think my
heart’s about to pound it’s way right out of my chest. See, feel how hard it’s
going,” Luke added as he yanked the front of his shirt and the snaps all gave
way.
Hannah could feel her own heart begin
to pound as Luke’s chest was revealed. It had been almost two years since she’d
seen or touched that beautiful brown skin. She stared and noticed Luke had
become more of a man since the last time, with six-pack abs, a light dusting of
dark hair and muscle definition that made her want to not only run her hands
over his chest, but maybe lick her way up and down.
Luke was watching her when she looked
up and she shook her head, turning to Stevie. “Okay, let’s wash those hands and get at least one of those ten tacos you thought you could eat on a
plate.”
Soon, all three of them were munching
away on Dale’s fabulous tacos. Stevie surprised Hannah by actually eating two
and part of a third before he said he was full. By the time he drank his milk,
his eyes were almost closed.
“Hey Buckeroo,” Luke said, ruffling Stevie’s
hair. “I think it’s time we head for your bunkhouse. I don’t want you to fall
asleep here because I’m too tuckered out from our exercise before lunch. You’re
going to have to walk there on your own.”
Stevie rubbed his eyes and opened them
wide. “Nope, I’m not tired. We should go get my pony and do some riding
partner.”
Hannah added herself to the
conversation. “Nope, no pony ride before your nap. And, I’ll take him up. I
need to do some stuff in the house anyway.”
“Are you kidding? And miss the best
part of my entire day. I am so looking forward to laying down on Stevie’s bed
with him. Hell, I might even take a nap myself.”
“Shame on you Luke. You swore. Mom says
gentlemen don’t use bad language. You should tell mom sorry.”
Luke stood up, grabbed his cowboy,
placed it against his shirt front, now snapped closed again thank heavens, and
bowed, saying, “Mam, please pardon me for swearing. I do so apologize to both
you and your son. I promise to watch my language in the future.”
Stevie laughed and Hannah nodded. “C’mon
then, let’s head out.” Luke said, pulling Stevie’s chair back and taking his
hand. “See you later Hannah.”
She remained in her chair watched them
walk out of the dining hall. They really were perfect together. She just wished
she could totally forget what had happened at her Gramps’ funeral. As she sat
there mulling over what she should do next and whether she ought to have
another glass of ice tea, Joe, Dave and Dale joined her. Dale was carrying a
plate with her favorite lemon bar on it and another glass of ice tea. The men
all appeared to have iced coffee.
They sat down and Hannah thanked Dale for
the treat. “Since the dining hall is pretty empty now, and you’re sitting still
Hannah, we thought we might just have a talk.” Joe began.
“I was elected to start ‘cause I’ve
been with you the longest. Dave’s right behind me and Dale, well, Dale’s simply
a newbee.”
Dale rolled his eyes, but Joe
continued, “You know me and Dave were here the day of your Gramps’ funeral. We
heard everythin’ that snake Jamison had to say. We saw how much you were hurt
to hear what he said about Luke. We even supported your decision to turn that
boy away that very instant. Course, we didn’t know you were pregnant then either,
although it probably wouldn’t have changed what we thought and felt.”
Joe paused to take a drink from his
glass. “Talkin’ makes me thirsty. Anyway, we were all tickled to become family,
at least we feel like we’re family.”
Hannah nodded and patted Joe’s hand.
She had an idea about what this was leading to.
“Now, Luke wasn’t here with you while
you were pregnant or while you or we was building WFR Treks. He wasn’t here for
the birth either, but I was as pleased as punch to stand in for him. We’ve all
helped with Stevie and love him as if he were our own.”
Dave took over while Joe had another
drink. “We never expected Luke to show up back here. We figured he was done and
gone.”
“And, none of us, including me, was
happy to see him rolling into the parking lot either,” Dale added for emphasis.
“The thing is Hannah, he’s not the boy
he was when you sent him on his way.” Hannah thought they might have practiced
this because Joe was taking the lead again. “We’ve all spent time with him,
talked to him and learned what he’s been up to in the last couple years. Maybe
he told you he was on the rodeo circuit for two years and maybe he didn’t. He
was, and he saved every nickel possible in that time. When he decided he was
done with the rodeo, he sold his horses and his trailer. The only thing he
spent money on was a new truck because his old one was simply tuckered out.”
Dave added, “Maybe you noticed we
weren’t real friendly when he first got here. We really thought you’d send him
on his way, and we know you tried, but it’s simply not possible to stop water
when it’s moving, and you know that yourself.”
“We’ve watched the way he’s tried to
woo you with all the little gifts and flowers and candy.” Dale continued. “I
know if he was a wooing me, I’d be real receptive by now. But the one thing
Luke’s done so good is how he treats Stevie. We know Stevie doesn’t know Luke
is his real daddy, but Luke definitely acts as though he’s the daddy. He’s
interested in everything about Stevie. We’ve watched and noted how he’s taught,
cared for and added so much to Stevie’s life. And, it’s not as though we weren’t
doing that ourselves, but it says a lot, we think, about a man who finds out he’s
a father and not only is willing, but really wants to be a part of that child’s
life.”
“We’ve all come to believe that Luke
sincerely loves you and Stevie. We all believe you love him as well. Maybe it’s
time to let the past be the past and look toward tomorrow, or even today. Anyway,
the three of us thought it was time we had a little talk with you, in a
fatherly, or grandfatherly way.” Joe said. “Dave and I knew your Gramps and
believe he’d want us to step in and have a word….”
“Or a thousand or ten thousand words
if necessary,” Dale added.
“So, that’s what we’re doing.” Joe
reached over and patted Hannah’s shoulder. “If you feel like we’re overstepping,
just tell us to get the hell out of here and we’ll go.”
Hannah heaved a big sigh and looked at
the three men who’d come to be like three gramps to her and great-gramps to
Stevie. “I appreciate and love the fact you decided to talk to me about this. I’ve
been having a real hard time since Luke showed up again. Yes, I still love him,
but the hurt remains, no matter how many little presents he brings. I
especially love the way he is with Stevie. The way those two are together is
the way I imagined it would be when I realized I was pregnant. I just don’t know how to let go of the anger
and humiliation and feelings of betrayal. I wish I could. I want to, but every
time I’m near Luke, I not only want to wrap myself around him, I want to
horsewhip him too. I don’t know how to move forward.”
“Well, before we decided to do this,”
Joe said, “we visited Miz. Lionel and talked over the whole thing. We don’t
really have any advice to offer beyond let bygones be bygones, but Miz. Lionel
suggested you stop by for some of her venison stew and a little chat.”
“Yep, she helped us figure out what to
say. She may be oldern dirt, but she’s got a lot of wisdom.” Dave added.
Dale finished off their talk by telling
Hannah, “We told her you’d be there for lunch tomorrow. Now, I think it’s time
I got back in the kitchen if we’re going to have any dinner tonight. And, don’t
the two of you have something to do in the barn. I think we should leave Hannah
on her own to do some thinking.”
As the three men stood up, so did
Hannah. She went to each one and hugged hard, murmuring words of appreciation.
As they left the dining hall, Hannah sat back down and that’s where Luke and
Stevie found her later that afternoon as he got ready to leave for the day.
“Mom, hey mom. Guess what? Luke had a
nap too and boy does he snore loud. He woke me up snoring.”
Hannah pulled her warm boy on to her
lap as Luke denied he snored. She gave him some hugs and kisses before sitting
him on his feet. “Now, go see Uncle Dale and get yourself a snack.”
Luke knelt for Stevie’s hug and kiss,
saying, “See you tomorrow Bud.”
As Stevie ran off to the kitchen, Luke
stood, looked at Hannah and asked once again if she’d like to do something
special with him and Stevie the next day.
Every single cell in Hannah’s body was
shouting that they’d like to do something with just Luke, but once again, she
said, “Thanks Luke. Appreciate the invite, but I have plans for tomorrow. Enjoy
your time with Stevie.”
Luke looked disappointed as he had
after she’d refused every other invitation. He walked around the table and gave
her brain a soft pull. “Okay, we’ll see you some time tomorrow I’m sure, and I'm still loving you."
Hannah held herself completely still
until she heard Luke’s boots leave the dining hall.