Page 18 of Shine On Oklahoma

“I know, Rob’s meeting her there. Asked me towait for you.”

“So…what do we do with all this?” She liftedher laden arms.

“Nursery, would be my best guess,” Dax said.He headed through the living room and up the stairs to the bedroombeside Rob and Kiley’s.

The window was propped open, a fan aimedoutward to clear out the smell of the fresh pink paint that hadbeen put on since he’d been in here last. It was a soft, prettygreen with a pink stripe a foot wide around the middle. A whitecrib fit for a princess stood opposite the window.

He watched Kendra, checking it all out. Thebookshelf was already piled with titles. The dresser and changingtable were white with rainbows painted on them. Every surface helda toy. There were princess dolls, castles, and unicorns everywhere.Kendra went to the room’s center and stood there, turning in a slowcircle. “You…think she went overboard on the princess theme alittle bit?” she asked softly.

“If I did, I would never say so.”

“Neither would I. Still, it’s awfully…girlie, isn’t it?”

“A muscle car poster would break it up some,”Dax said.

Kendra grinned at him. He grinned back andfor just a second, he was stuck there, in a bubble of happy withher.

He cleared his throat, looked away. Thebubble popped. He set his bags on the floor near the closet andopened it up. “Lots of hangers in here. Should we?”

She set her bags down beside his and pawedthrough a few of them, past frilly pink fluffy things until shefinally found what she wanted and yanked out the tiniest pair ofdenim bib overalls he’d ever seen in his life. “I picked these outbecause Diana’s got my DNA, too. She’s gonna get dirty, and she’sgonna break things.”

Hearts, he thought. She was gonna breakhearts.

They hung each little item on a hanger, butdidn’t remove any tags.

“You look all bright and shiny, Kendra. Didyou have a good time with the girls?”

“Sure.” She averted her eyes, focused onfolding footie pajamas so tiny he couldn’t believe any human beingcould fit them. Even a newborn. “I mean, they’re nice people, youknow that. It’s no chore being around nice people like that.”

He must’ve looked at her wrong, because whenhe did, she added, “For limited periods.”

“They seemed to like you.” She frowned at himand he nodded at the window. “I saw when they dropped you off.Everyone smiling, waving back all the way down the road.”

“You saw us pull in and didn’t come help melug all those bags?”

“By the time I got the door, you were alreadythere. I was putting some things up in the attic for Rob. Babiestake up a lot of room. And you’re changing the subject. They likedyou, didn’t they?”

She took her stack of jammies to the whitedresser, opened drawers to see where they belonged. “They onlythinkthey like me. I make people think they like me, Dax. Igrew up learning how and I don’t think I can even turn it offanymore. I didn’t even try, I swear, they just….”

“They just liked you.”

“Apparently, I’m supposed to take overplanning the baby shower. Can you even imagine?” She’d found theright drawer, was closing it now.

He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “Iguess I don’t know enough about baby showers to have anopinion.”

“It’s a surprise, so don’t say anything toRob. We’re having a secret meeting tomorrow at the crack of dawn.”She rolled her eyes.

There was a hint of insecurity in them. Hespotted it like a hawk spotting a garter snake from on high. Shewas trying to hide it, but she was nervous about being around theBrand-McIntyre females.

“You know you’re just as smart and just aspretty as any of them, don’t you?”

“Smarter,” she said. “And pretty? Come on,Dax, do you think I give a crap about pretty?” She shrugged. “It’sfine. Like I said, they’re nice. How did your day go?”

For a second he thought she might really wantto know, so he said, “I had a text from my mother. She and thelawyers are coming out here to uh…” he hesitated, but decided toplunge ahead. It felt like the best move. He couldn’t trap herwithout any bait, anyway. And he thought he needed to. He needed toknow for sure what her game was, so he could keep his mother as faraway from it as possible. And his heart, he had to protect thattoo. So he said it. “To discuss my father’s estate.”

She had opened the little closet and washanging up baby clothes on the tiniest hangers he’d ever seen. Butshe stopped in mid-motion and spoke without turning to look at him.“I thought you said he cut you out of his will.”

“Nope.”

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