Golden Trail (92 page)

Violet had a way with flowers and her
backyard was a showstopper. Now it was also filled with people but,
even so, Layne clocked his sons immediately.

He stopped, Roc stopped with him, turned
into him, got up on her toes and brushed her lips to his. Then she
bent and brushed her lips to her daughter’s head. Then she turned
toward the deck to take her pie to a table groaning with food.

Layne watched as Rocky climbed the steps and
touched her cheek to the cheek of a smiling Violet who had a chubby
infant attached to her hip. Eight months ago, Vi and Cal had added
son Sam to their brood. Then Vi had then declared she was done. Cal
was of another mind. An epic battle had begun considering Cal kept
dumping her birth control pills in the toilet and Vi kept bitching
about this to her girlfriends, including Roc, at every available
opportunity of which there where many. She also shared her
strategies of waging war against Cal’s determination to have
another child. Apparently, from what Rocky told him, Cal was
extremely determined and put a fair amount of effort into victory.
Also, according to Roc, Vi enjoyed bitching about it but wasn’t
exactly fighting to win.

Layne turned from his woman and he and
Cecilia made their way to his boys. To get to their destination,
Layne had to dodge Jack chasing Angela through the thick, green
grass. When the path was clear, his eyes focused on his sons.

Both were on their backs, side by side, legs
straight out, ankles crossed but up on their elbows. Giselle was
sitting cross-legged close to Tripp, her knee resting on his hip.
Keira was draped full down Jasper, her torso pressed to his side,
one of her legs tangled with his, her arm resting on his abs, her
cheek to his shoulder but she was gabbing with Giselle.

Jasper and Keira had never stopped being
inseparable. Like his Dad, Jas knew exactly what he wanted when he
found it but, unlike his Dad, he was never going to let it go.
Keira followed Jas to Purdue and on more than one occasion at a
variety of times of during the day and night she answered Jas’s
cell or the phone in Jas’s apartment. Layne knew what that meant as
well as what their current intimate position stated and neither of
them hid it. He had no problem with this and Cal, standing at the
barbeque and not a stupid man by a long shot, didn’t either. Both
men knew the future would see Jas and Keira’s children running
through this grass. Layne had no problem with that either. Keira
had learned the hard way to take care of the people she loved while
she had them and there was no denying Keira Winters loved his son,
she loved him deeply and she loved him in a way that Layne
recognized would last a lifetime. Jasper was Jasper, he’d proven
early he’d do anything for his girl and nothing had changed.

The minute he got close, his sons’ eyes
moved to him and he got identical smiles and nods.

Keira said, “Hey, Mr. Layne,” and Layne
greeted her back but Giselle didn’t say a word. She just lifted her
arms, instantly reaching for Cecilia.

Tripp and Giselle often babysat for Cecilia
and Giselle doted on Layne and Rocky’s daughter. Tripp doted on
Giselle. She hadn’t become less shy but she had become extremely
tight with his son. They were as inseparable as Jasper and Keira
but in a different way. Tripp’s public displays of affection were
limited to hand holding and sometimes when they were watching TV,
Giselle would curl up at his feet and rest her head on his knee or
curl on the seat of the couch and rest her head on this thigh.
Though once Layne had started down the stairs and caught sight of
them making out, hot and extremely heavy, on the sectional in a way
that stated they did it often when they had no audience around. Not
making a noise, Layne had retraced his steps, left them to it and
hoped with his father, stepmother and baby sister all upstairs,
making out was as far as Tripp was prepared to go.

But at all times, Tripp was gentle with
Giselle and he was still the only person Layne had seen that could
make her smile big or laugh hard, both unconsciously. She never
liked attention but sometimes Rocky would nudge Layne, nod at
Giselle and he’d see Giselle watching his son move through the
kitchen or sit watching TV and she’d do it with a look on her face
that reminded Layne of Rocky. It wasn’t the same but it was just as
good. Tripp made her laugh but he also made her feel safe and he
made her feel special, three of the best gifts Tripp could give her
and her look made it clear she appreciated them.

He handed CeeCee to Giselle and dropped to
the grass, stretching out like his sons.

“You and Roc missed the big announcement,”
Jas stated when Layne settled and Layne’s eyes went to his boy who
was now no longer a boy in any sense of that word.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Kate’s gettin’ married,” Jas declared,
Layne’s eyes moved through the people and he located Kate Winters,
Keira’s sister and Vi’s older daughter. Kate was just about to
enter grad school and she was now leaning against a tall, lean but
built, dark-haired man. She was also smiling happily and talking to
Cal’s Aunt Theresa and Uncle Vinnie.

“You know him?” Layne asked.

“Yeah, his name’s Tony. He’s a cop, Chicago
PD,” Jas answered and Layne grinned, thinking the apple definitely
does not fall far from the tree. Kate’s Dad was a cop on the
Chicago PD. “He seems solid,” Jasper finished.

“Good,” Layne murmured and he looked at
Keira. “You like him, Keirry?”

“Sure, he’s hot,” Keira replied, Jasper’s
eyes sliced to her, she grinned insolently at him then leaned in
close to his face. “Not as hot as you, honey,” she whispered,
glanced over her shoulder at her sister and her man, then back to
Jasper where she noted, “But no denying, the Winters women have
really good taste.
”

Jasper glared at his girl then looked at his
old man. “You know, Dad, I woulda been happy with the gene you gave
Tripp, the one that would lead me to a woman who wasn’t a complete
nut and also wasn’t friggin’ irritating all the time.”

Keira, completely unoffended by this, burst
out laughing. So did Tripp and, to a lesser extent, Giselle. Jasper
did not.

Layne smiled at his son then he saw Cecilia
straining away from Giselle, her arms stretched out to Tripp.

Tripp took one arm from under him as Giselle
lost hold of a very determined CeeCee and she landed on Tripp’s
chest. His arm circled his sister’s fat bottom, she reached up,
latched on and pulled at his lip which made Tripp smile and
instantly bend his head, heft her up his chest and blow into her
neck.

Cecilia giggled.

The birth of Cecilia was an event that made
a lot of people pretty fucking happy, including Layne’s two boys.
They loved their sister and CeeCee liked her Mom and Dad, she liked
Vera and Devin, she liked Dave and Merry, she liked Keira and
Giselle, but she adored her brothers.

The person it didn’t make happy was
Gabrielle. Gabby detested her sons’ devotion to Rocky and Layne’s
daughter and didn’t mind letting that fact be known. She didn’t say
anything but it pissed her off, her sons preferring to be with
their Dad, Roc and their sister and Gabby, being Gabby, found her
own, particular bitchy way to let this be known.

As usual, it wasn’t a good play. Her boys
didn’t like it and she didn’t let it go so she’d managed to
alienate them both. Now, neither saw her very often. When Jas came
home from Purdue, he was on the air mattress in his old room, now
Tripp’s room. And Tripp, more often than not, stopped taking his
turns at Gabby’s.

When this started, Gabby had threatened
Layne with attorneys. As he’d told her that morning at Rocky’s
apartment, Layne didn’t respond because he never responded. She
called, he didn’t answer. She called him from a number he didn’t
recognize, he picked up, heard her voice then hung up. She left a
message, he didn’t return it. The buzzer beeped at his office and
he saw her on the monitor, he walked to the outer door and locked
it. She never came to the house because she tried that once, the
door went unanswered and Tripp had pulled up while she was camped
out on one of Rocky’s Adirondack chairs on the front porch and this
didn’t go over very well with Tripp, as in at all, so she’d never
tried that shit again.

Gabby didn’t enter his or Roc’s life except
when he became annoyed when his sons’ spoke of her bullshit, bitter
antics.

But Tripp had had a word with his mother, it
was a word she didn’t like but, whatever it was, it was also a word
that made her back off. After that, Tripp went his own way and that
way normally led him to his room at Layne and Roc’s.

With time, Tripp had learned cool. He’d also
learned to focus his intensity. And both made Tripp Layne a young
man you didn’t mess with, even if you were his mother.

Rocky had intervened on Gabby’s behalf and
she’d done this more than once, with both boys together and
separate. She’d intervened but her efforts weren’t successful.
Devin had been right, like their father, both Layne’s sons saw
Rocky’s vulnerable spot even before she exposed it that Saturday
afternoon and her work at healing that wound hadn’t stopped his
sons’ from militantly standing strong to protect against it, or
anything, causing her pain. This wasn’t because their old man loved
Rocky, it was because they did. The addition of Cecilia just
strengthened their connection with Layne’s wife. That didn’t mean
they didn’t love their mother that just meant she’d made an
extremely stupid play. He knew his boys, they cared about Gabby,
they’d find their way back – but when they did, they’d do it on
their terms.

“Takin’ Ellie down to Bloomington next week,
Dad, she wants to scope out the campus,” Tripp told him, his neck
craning, dodging CeeCee’s hand at the same time he was grinning at
her and tickling her side with his fingers.

“All right,” Layne replied.

“You go to IU, we won’t be able to talk
anymore,” Keira told Giselle, dipping her head to rest her cheek
back on Jas.

“They have a good med school,” Giselle
replied.

“So does IU…
PU
…I,” Keira returned and
Giselle shook her head, a small smile on her face.

It would be interesting to see if Giselle
went to IU. She was determined to be a doctor and had the grades
for it. She also had the diligence.

Tripp, however, had an uncertain future. It
was uncertain but it was bright. He’d made the All-USA High School
Football team and this meant he wasn’t just a star in the ‘burg, he
was a star throughout the State of Indiana. With Giselle his girl,
Rocky his stepmother and his head together, his grades were
excellent. Because of this, Tripp had his choice of colleges but,
considering his game kept improving and the high school team had
seen two consecutive wins at State, both of these having a lot to
do with Tripp, who excelled far beyond anyone’s expectations,
expectations that were already high, if he avoided injury it was
highly likely after school he’d be drafted into the pros.

That said, Giselle might be quiet and shy,
but she was also smart and knew what she wanted. If Tripp and
Giselle went the distance through their upcoming senior year, it
would be interesting to see who followed who. Raquel speculated
about it all the time. She figured Tripp would follow Giselle.
Layne knew Tripp would do his own thing and if he wanted to keep
connected with Giselle, even if they were apart, he’d make that
so.

Layne’s eyes moved from his son to his
daughter seeing, at this point, not getting what she wanted from
one brother, Cecilia was giving up on Tripp and she crawled across
his chest, launching herself at Jasper who caught her with two
hands, dropped to his back, disengaging from Keira. He threw
Cecilia in the air and caught her as she giggled loudly.

Keira kept a hand on Jas’s abs and watched,
her face soft, her eyes longing.

Fuck.

Layne was thankfully taken from thoughts of
imminent grandfatherhood when he felt cold on his arm and looked up
to see Rocky holding a beer there.

“Beer, sweetheart,” she whispered.

“Thanks, baby,” he muttered through a smile
and took the bottle.

She gave him the dimple before she dropped
down beside him, her movement fluid, then she curled into him much
like Keira had been curled into Jas except without her leg tangled
with his or her cheek to his shoulder. But her torso was pressed to
his side and her hand, holding a fancy-ass bottle of beer, was
resting on his abs.

“So, how’s Vi feeling about the engagement?”
Layne asked her.

“Old,” Rocky replied, Layne grinned and
looked at Vi. She was now standing with Cal at the barbeque, Sam
had been claimed by Keira’s grandmother, Bea. Cal had his arm
wrapped around Vi’s shoulders and he’d pinned her to his chest, his
head dipped down, his face close to hers. Vi looked pissed in a way
Layne knew she didn’t mean it and he knew this because Cal was
grinning. What Vi didn’t look was old. She looked tanned and
healthy and full of attitude.

Layne took a slug from his beer, his eyes
doing a scan, seeing Colt and Feb lounged in the grass much like
Layne and Rocky. Angela was crawling all over Colt, Jack was
chasing after her and Feb was holding on to her man. Colt was
grinning down at Angela and Jack. Feb wasn’t grinning. Feb’s
forehead was pressed to Colt’s neck, her eyes had a faraway look in
them and her face was, no other way to describe it, at peace.

Layne’s eyes kept scanning and he saw Lexie
with her latest boyfriend. Seth had gone to Ball State and Alexis
had moved on, then again, and again, according to word from Rocky,
Keira, Giselle and Lissa, all of whom kept close watch on Alexis’s
active love life. Now she was dating Tripp’s friend Shane and she
was smitten because Shane was playing it cool. She’d finally met
her match in the games playing stakes but Lexie,
she
was
fighting to win. Inside word from Tripp was that Shane was into her
and she wouldn’t have to fight too hard. Shane just didn’t want to
be a notch on Lexie’s belt and he was setting about making that
so.