Page 42 of Wishes on Wildflowers
“But you’ve got a good point there. Maybe I should bail out and move away. Seems a pretty drastic step to me. We Santoros stick close to home... except for my cousin Rob, but he just got overwhelmed by Nonna’s meddling. Had nothing to do with religion, that I know of.”
Nathan remembered Rob from high school. “He’s married now, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, a woman with two kids. He’s adopting them in a few weeks, once the Montana waiting period is over. Thewhole clan is headed to Helena to celebrate.” Basil shook his head. “Not me. I’m staying home to run the booth at the farmers market.”
“I could do that for you if you want. Sounds like an event you won’t want to miss.”
“No problem. I’m fine staying back. Trust me, an entire weekend suffocating on the air my family breathes is a bit too long.”
“I would have given anything for a family like yours.” The words shot out before Nathan could censure them but, hey, they were true.
“You can have them.” Basil chuckled sardonically. “Oh, wait, you’re already in line to claim your membership card. Good for you. I guess.”
17
“Jasmine?”
She forced her eyes open. Was it even morning? Only the streetlight filtered through the slats of her blinds. “Hmm?”
“Dixie had her baby.”
Her roommate woke her up at o-dark-thirty to tell her? “Thas good.” She rolled over.
“Six pounds fourteen ounces. She named him Henry Donovan Wayling.”
Wayling?That broke through Jasmine’s sleep-deprived fog. “Not Ranta?”
“Yeah. Dan’s spitting mad. Apparently they never talked about it.” The mattress shifted as Linnea settled on it near the foot.
So, this was morning, then. “Why?”
“She said her other kids are Waylings. Apparently she never trusted their fathers to stick around, and guess what? They didn’t. So she’s keeping with her tradition.”
“That stinks. Poor Dan.”
“Yeah. So instead of being up at the hospital holding his newborn like a proud papa, he went down to the bar to get drunk. Logan went with him.”
“To drink?”
“No. He couldn’t reason with Dan, so he went to sit with him and give him a ride back.”
Jasmine squinted at her clock. “What timeisit?”
“Two o’clock. Sorry.”
She’d been dreaming about Nathan. About how he’d spent time yesterday afternoon visiting with Nonna. How he’d sprawled on the living room floor and allowed Arie to climb all over him again. At least this time there’d been no blood involved. She’d dreamed the intensity of his gray eyes, and she’d dreamed his kisses. She didn’t want to awaken from her fantasy and meet the Ranta nightmare.
Linnea sighed. “Dad is livid. Says no grandkid of his is going to have a different last name. Says maybe this proves the baby isn’t Dan’s, after all. Says—”
“Says far too much, as always.”
“Yeah.”
“So why is Logan being the peacemaker?” Why not Linnea? Why was she perched on Jasmine’s bed in the middle of the night instead of letting her sleep?
“My dad respects Logan. So does Dan. He doesn’t want the family torn apart by this mess. I mean, it’s not that big a deal. It’s just a name.” She sighed. “Maybe Dad hasn’t figured out yet that when Logan and I have kids, they’ll be Dermotts not Rantas. Maybe he’ll flip out about that, too.”
“I think it’s a big thing to men. It stabs their ego.”
