Heartsong (Singing to the Heart Book 2) (3 page)

Her mother flattened her mouth into a fine line. “Why would you say such a thing? My mother was ten years older than my father and they were happily married. It’s all because of that woman.”

That woman being the talent scout-turned-manager, Andrea Rose. The woman for whom Gabe had left Micki.

“Now that’s just ridiculous. Gabe’s marriage to an older woman has nothing to do with my aversion to following in my grandparents’ footsteps. I won’t chase after a younger man for the same reason I’d never go for a much older one. I’m not...”

“I know you aren’t Frankie.”

She’d gone too far. Frankie may not have been her mother’s biological daughter, but Loretta had been the only mother Frankie had ever known, and Momma loved her as if she’d been her flesh and blood. “I’m sorry, Momma. I didn’t mean...” She shook her head and swallowed. “I like Cash--as a friend. Nothing more.” She bent and picked up a baseball lying on the floor by her chair leg.

The sound of a vehicle crunching on the gravel of the drive had her turning toward it. She stood and leaned on the railing as the nondescript sedan stopped beside her truck. When a middle-aged woman exited the car, fear snaked around Micki’s gut, and she gripped the white rail. By the look of the woman’s high heels and pinstriped suit, she didn’t get out of her Brownwood office much.

Jesse came out of the orchard and rounded the car. The woman smiled at him, but he only hurried up the steps to move in close to Micki. Her need to protect him was strong and undeniable as she wrapped her arm around his slender shoulders and pulled him close.

Momma must have felt the same compulsion because she positioned her wheelchair at the edge of the porch steps between the pillars. “What can we do for you?”

The woman stopped on the concrete walkway at the bottom of the stairs and glanced at Jesse. He snaked his arm around Micki’s waist and held on.

The woman smiled and held out an envelope along with a badge.

“It’ll be okay,” Micki said to Jesse with a gentle squeeze. He didn’t look convinced as she let go of him and made herself descend the three steps. Stopping in front of the woman, she read the identification the lady was holding out.

With a smile the Department of Family Protective Services agent put her badge away. “Allison Fennel. Are you Michaela or Loretta Finn?” She handed Micki an envelope with the seal of Texas in the corner and her and her mother’s names in the middle of it.

Micki numbly nodded and met the woman’s eyes. “I’m Michaela. My mother is Loretta. Why are you here?”

She already knew--Jesse.

“Jesse, be a good boy and go inside please,” her mother said.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Jesse stomped down the steps to stop beside Micki. “What do you want, lady?”

Fennel’s smile dripped sugar as she leaned forward. “I bet you’re Jesse.”

“So?”

“Jesse, please go inside--now.” Micki ruffled his hair.

He squared his shoulders and ran up the stairs. The screen door slammed behind him.

“I’m his grandmother. What do you want?” Loretta’s voice was as hard as concrete.

The woman’s eyes shifted from Micki to Loretta. “DFPS was contacted this morning by Judge Lemont Finn regarding the deaths of Samuel and Frances McKenna. It’s my office’s responsibility to make certain the child is taken care of.”

Son of a bitch. Figured her father would get involved. Micki stuck her hands into her back pockets to keep them from forming fists. “My sister and her husband left him in our care while they were on a business trip. We aren’t stopping now. We’re his only family.”

Micki’s throat froze shut at Fennel’s slight, lopsided grin. “I’m here at the request of the child’s grandfather. Mrs. Finn, it’s my understanding you were Frances’s stepmother. Lemont Finn’s first wife died in a car accident when she was a year old.”

“Yes, that’s correct. Before I could adopt her proper, Lemont and I divorced. But Frankie was as much mine as Micki is.” Her mother’s voice quivered. “I loved her as my own child.”

Dear God, they weren’t seriously thinking of giving Jesse to her father, were they? Neither Frankie nor Sam would have ever wanted that. They despised him as much as she and her mother did.

Micki heard another vehicle on the drive, but she was too focused on Allison Fennel and her thoughts to heed the sound. A car door slammed.

“Is it also true you do not own this house? You lived and worked on the ranch, Miss Finn?”

“Yes, I’m the manager.”

“You aren’t taking that child anywhere. I’m Jesse’s brother.”

Fennel turned at the sound of Gabe’s voice. If the situation weren’t so dire, Micki would have smiled at the way her eyes bugged out of her head. She opened her mouth and closed it again. Finally, she sputtered, “Gabe McKenna?”

The hardness of Gabe’s face never softened.

“Gabe!” Jesse bounded down the stairs and leapt into his older brother’s arms. “You came!”

“Of course I’d be here.” Gabe held his brother and kissed the top of his dark head. “I’m so sorry, buddy.”

At the tenderness in his voice, Micki’s heart did a fast little flutter.

Gabe set Jesse back on his feet and placed his trademark tan Stetson on the boy’s curls, completely covering the top half of his face.

“I’m glad you’re here, Gabe. This lady wants to take me away to live with Grandpa Lemont.” The flash of fear in his dark blue eyes filled Micki with a need to keep him away from her father.

Gabe knelt in front of his baby brother and rested his hands on Jesse’s small shoulders. “That’s not going to happen. So, don’t you worry about it, okay?”

Jesse gazed at Gabe with hero worship causing Micki’s heart to swell. He’d always been good with Jesse and never held their father’s affair with Frankie against him. A fierce longing for what could have been hit her hard enough to knock the breath out of her. A lot of years had passed since she had thought of Gabe as father material, but even then she’d never considered he’d be so patient and attentive. So loving.

Gabe tugged the brim of his hat down over Jesse’s forehead. “Now you go inside with your grandma while your aunt Michaela and I talk to the lady. Okay?” He glanced over Jesse’s head to her mother and she nodded. He winked at Micki and shooed Jesse up the steps.

Momma held out her hand for Jesse to take, and together they entered the house.

Gabe stood beside Micki and faced the agent. “I think you can leave now. Despite Loretta’s relationship to Frankie or Jesse, Michaela is his aunt by blood and I’m his brother.”

The woman looked flustered as beads of sweat formed on her brow and upper lip. “I have to deliver the boy into the care of Judge Finn.”

Gabe put his left hand into the pocket of his faded jeans. “You can explain to Judge Finn he isn’t taking Jesse away from his home at a time as painful as this. The boy doesn’t even know the man.”

Micki jumped when he put his other arm around her shoulders. The touch was light and more show than anything else, but it sent a zing through her.

“Now if you will excuse us, we have funeral arrangements to make. Loretta and Micki have been taking care of Jesse for the past week while my father and Michaela’s sister were in Dallas. Our lawyer will be in contact with DFPS as soon as possible.”

Gabe turned Micki around and headed up the steps to the screen door as if he’d done it a thousand times. At the open door, Loretta gave him an appreciative look as she backed away.

Fennel followed them up the stairs. “I’ll have to inspect the home, at the very least. Judge Finn wouldn’t want his grandson subjected to an unsafe environment.”

Micki held Gabe’s narrowing gaze. Fennel might work for DFPS, but she was also on Lemont Finn’s payroll. She’d find something wrong no matter how insignificant. When had she last picked up Jesse’s toys from the small living room? She also hoped her mother had put the dirty dishes from the past two days in the dishwasher. Micki swallowed and looked over her shoulder. “Yes, of course. Follow me.”

She glanced around the cool interior as they entered. In the small eat-in kitchen, a few plastic cups sat on the counter, but the sink was free of dishes. An old Monopoly game lay out on the small round table. In the living room to the left, two Tonka trucks that were probably old enough to have been Gabe’s were parked next to the couch. Jesse, still wearing Gabe’s hat, sat on the braided rug in front of the couch playing with his iPad. He peeked over the screen with worry etching his forehead when they entered the house with Fennel hot on their tails.

Gabe stopped and turned in the space dividing the kitchen and living room. Crossing his arms, he stood like a barrier in front of the social worker. “You have two minutes, Miss Fennel. I suggest you start your inspection because your time is already ticking.”

His hard jaw line and the amber stones of his eyes let Micki know he wasn’t here for her or her mother but for Jesse.

The sudden wave of begrudging relief for his taking over the situation with the social worker turned into dread of another kind.

What if he wanted to take Jesse away from her?

Typical for an early September day in Central Texas, the day of the funeral dawned warm and bright. In the graveyard behind Bluebonnet Creek’s nondenominational church, Gabe stood by the side of the graves, suffocating in his new suit, which was much too warm for the hot day. He’d bought it yesterday in Brownwood, since he hadn’t brought anything suitable for the double funeral with him.

Bluebonnet Creek’s citizens, along with the ranchers and farmers in the surrounding area, turned out for the funeral. Beyond the white picket fence, Gabe spotted several local reporters; a few from as far away as Dallas were mixed with them. His father had been a respected businessman and rancher while Frankie had been an emerging artist, not to mention the estranged daughter of a local billionaire. Legitimate news agencies stayed back, recording their pieces for their eleven o’clock shows. The paparazzi weren’t as respectful of the mourners. He’d hired security to keep them back, but many were still trying to get pictures of them.

Normally, he didn’t mind the attention the media gave him, but today the jerks were pissing him off big time. They didn’t just want his photo; they were after his never-seen-before little brother and the woman Gabe had once been engaged to.

Jesse sniffled beside him and tightened his grip on Gabe’s hand. His little brother was doing his honest best not to cry, but the wet tracks running down his cheeks betrayed Jesse’s pain. Gabe’s heart broke for his brother’s loss, despite his confusion over his own emotions. He held nothing but numbness in his heart for the man they shared blood with and for his wife--a woman Gabe had once considered his best friend.

Gabe glanced at Michaela. She had her arm wrapped around the shoulders of the boy between them. They’d put their past aside for a few days while they worked together to arrange the funerals.

Grief had taken a toll on Michaela. Her once vibrant blue eyes were dull and red rimmed. She’d used makeup to conceal the smudges of dark circles under her eyes, which only made her fatigue more noticeable.

The black dress and low heels were also anomaliesy. She never wore anything but jeans and boots. Considering the circumstances, he shouldn’t have noticed how the jersey fabric fit over her breasts and hips and stopped just above her knee. Despite her pantyhose, the fabric showed off her long, toned legs in a way he hadn’t seen in a long time.

He looked back at the burnished bronzed caskets. Although he didn’t feel shame for his attraction to Michaela during this moment, Gabe reminded himself of the pain she’d caused him.

The narrowed gaze of the man standing on the other side of the grave drew his attention. If Lemont Finn mourned his eldest daughter’s untimely and tragic death, he hid the emotion well. Gabe squared his shoulders and met the man’s steady gaze with one of his own. Finn may be the richest man in the county, but Gabe’s bank account wasn’t as empty as it had been when he had lived here. He was never getting Jesse, who he wanted to bend and mold into the ruthless heir his daughters never could be.

Jesse sniffled again and Gabe glanced at his brother. Gabe’s heart bruised a little more every time he thought about the loss of Sam and Frankie in Jesse’s young life.

When the preacher tossed a handful of dirt onto each of the caskets, Michaela let out a loud sob. She’d held it together fairly well until then. She hugged Jesse and her back curved in with the weight of her grief. Before he thought his actions through, Gabe wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him with Jesse between them. She stiffened and stepped away when Jesse wrapped his arms around Gabe’s waist. Shaking from her tears, she turned to her mother. Michaela and Loretta held on to each other and sobbed.

Gabe held the boy as the preacher finished the final prayer.

Jesse pressed his face into Gabe’s chest and murmured too low for anyone else to hear, “I will always love you, Momma and Daddy.”

Gabe looked down at Jesse as he held him close. Emotion crashed over him so fierce and blinding, Gabe fell to his knees. Memories of his own childhood with his father hammered at the shell he’d built around his heart. Gabe had once loved Sam McKenna as much as this sobbing boy in his arms did.

The first tear Gabe had shed in public since his mother’s death dropped off his lash. “They know.”

Jesse met his gaze and hiccupped. “We’re orphans now, aren’t we?”

Gabe stroked his brother’s unruly black curls. He looked so much like Gabe had as a boy, except Jesse had inherited his mother’s blue eyes. “Yeah.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “We are, buddy. But you will always have me.”

Michaela rested her hand on Jesse’s shoulder, and he turned to look up at her. “And you’ve got me and Grandma. We won’t let anything ever happen to you.”

As Gabe stood, he glanced at Lemont. The man’s challenging glare sent a shiver down his spine. Lemont put his hands into his pockets, turned away from the grave, and headed toward the social center where a meal had been set up by the church ladies.

Jesse watched his grandfather walk away, and a tremble ran through the boy’s lean body.