Mason's Marriage (5 page)

Mason watched, astonished, as Mimi turned and went inside the house. “What just happened?” he asked Crockett.

“Girl stuff,” Crockett said. “Not to oversimplify, but you hit her in the female zone. It’s even better than giving her flowers. You got her all choked up and misty, and now she’s not going to be mad at you anymore for luring her into bed like Calhoun told me you did.”

Mason blinked. “I did not lure her. And why does everything in this family have to be a topic of discussion?”

“Because we’re cool like that. We care about each other. And mainly, you shocked Calhoun so bad that he almost needed therapy. He would have been less surprised to see a dragon on the other side of that door. I mean, you and Mimi haven’t exactly—”

“All right,” Mason said crossly. “I get the picture.”

“In fact,” Crockett said, “since you’ve never had a woman to the ranch, or a girlfriend, we were beginning to think you were, you know—”

“No,” Mason said, “I don’t. Fill me in.”

“Well, disinterested is the first word that comes to mind.”

“Let it be the last word,” Mason said. “Just because I didn’t carry on elaborate plans to bed women doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested. I was setting an example for my younger brothers. That’s why I went to the trouble of creating a jingle I called the Condom Song—I needed something simple for you boneheads to remember whenever you got your urges.” Mason grunted. “Not that it did any good for most of you.”

“Nor you, apparently,” Crockett said. “But we love our little niece.” He grinned at the kids in the sandbox. “Anyway, what I was getting at is that you just made Mimi real happy with the sandbox and the ooey-gooey story about her dad wanting her to have one. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting her back into the s—”

“Crockett,” Mason said, “life is not all about sex.” He dumped the last of the sand into the box and looked at it with satisfaction. “Maybe we should have had one of these when we were young.”

Crockett slapped him on the shoulder. “If we had, you would have been forever wheezing about sand in the washing machine, bro. I gotta go. I’ve got a Valentine to get home to.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Mason said, watching as his brother walked toward his truck after kissing the little girls goodbye. “Thanks for helping me put this thing together.”

Crockett was gone and the girls weren’t paying Mason any attention, too delighted with their new toy to look up. Mason sat down on the ground, enjoying their pleasure, with only Crockett’s words to prick at him.

They pricked like cactus needles, forcing him to try to find the source. He knew the source was Mimi, but it was more than that. The anger had passed. So had the shock. A curious sense of what-if was left in its place.

He had made so many mistakes. Heeding Sheriff Cannady’s words, Mason didn’t want to look back with regrets.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever known. She made his heart sing and his blood crazy, and she’d given him a child.

He was really afraid of himself. What was he supposed to do—fall for a woman and then hope he
didn’t end up heartbroken one day? Heartbreak was mean and nasty and tore families apart.

“Hey,” he heard a voice say.

Glancing up into the warm sun of summer, he saw his friends Hawk and Jellyfish had sneaked up on him. They were so quiet, in fact, that the girls sat in their sandbox, still giggling and running sand over the edge of the sandbox, completely engrossed.

Hawk and Jellyfish had been investigating Mason’s father’s whereabouts and they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have something to discuss. Something that would require a decision on his part, or that would change the fabric of their family. One shock at a time was all he could take.

“Howdy,” he said, standing. “Good to see you, friends.” He nodded toward Nanette. “That’s my daughter. Her name is Nanette.”

Hawk and Jellyfish glanced at the child, studying her as she completely ignored them.

“Mimi’s daughter,” Hawk said.

“And mine,” Mason said.

The two men nodded.

“Congratulations, Dad,” Jellyfish said. “It must be groovy to have family you didn’t know about.”

Mason stared at him suspiciously. “Would that be a lead-in?”

Hawk silently handed him a journal. Leather-bound and small, no bigger than six by eight inches, it had seen better days. The pages were yellow, the brown leather as worn as well-beaten cowhide. Mason didn’t open it. He didn’t want to. He raised an eyebrow and waited.

“It’s your father’s,” Hawk said unnecessarily. “It was sent to us by Mannie, the woman of Inuit descent he stayed with for some years. She found it hidden in a box of old clothes.”

Mason swallowed. The small book would reveal the private thoughts of a man Mason had never stopped missing. He felt somewhat naked and exposed suddenly, with Hawk and Jellyfish watching him, and he quickly drew an expressionless curtain over his face.

“Daddy?” Nanette said, startling Mason so bad that his legs began to tremble. He stared at her, and she looked back at him with Mimi’s guileless blue eyes. A hard knot of emotion fused his throat until he could barely draw a breath.

She called me Daddy. She’s not supposed to know, because Mimi and I haven’t told her. But I’m not Uncle anymore.

I’m Daddy.

Pride dashed through him, and the past rolled away. He kneeled down to hug his daughter, barely
remembering he was still holding the journal filled with his father’s handwriting. Someday he would deal with that. But not now. Right now, he was a father. “Go on up to the house, boys. Helga will get you something good to snack on.”

They didn’t say anything, but he knew Hawk and Jellyfish were gone. Maybe they’d left before he’d even said anything; those two had their own communication style. But the little arms around his neck right now were the only kind of communication Mason wanted.

M
IMI WAS STARTLED
when Hawk and Jellyfish appeared in the kitchen. “Hi!” she exclaimed. “When did you get here?”

“Not more than five minutes ago,” Hawk said.

“Is Mason coming in, too?” Mimi asked, while Helga put food on plates for the men.

Jellyfish grinned. “He’s chilling with his little girl right now.”

“Oh.” Mimi looked at the men uncomfortably. “Mason told you that Nanette was his daughter?”

“Yes.” Hawk looked at her curiously. “And Nanette called him Daddy.”

Mimi’s eyes widened; her earth felt strangely off its center. How would Nanette have known?

“Someone in your family has strong powers of perception,” Hawk said. “She’s young for that, but it’s a good thing.”

“What?” Mimi said, her mind racing madly as she wondered about her daughter’s welfare. If Nanette knew Mason was her father, then one day she was going to ask the question
Why aren’t you and Daddy married? Why did you never marry?
These were questions Mimi hadn’t previously considered. They scared her. The whys were complicated. Even she didn’t understand them.

If she were a better, more organized mother, perhaps this wouldn’t be so messy. For Nanette’s sake, she wished she could have made everything neater in their lives. “Ugh,” she said. “I need my own powers of perception to figure all this out.”

“No.” Hawk smiled appreciatively at the plate Helga put in front of him. “You already have them.”

Jellyfish nodded. “Nanette would likely get them from you. None of the Jefferson men are particularly perceptive.”

Hawk held up his fork and pointed at Jellyfish. “Or they are, but they just conceal their powers until they are overtaken by some life-altering event.”

“Such as meeting their life mate,” Jellyfish said, his brow wrinkling.

Mason and the girls came into the kitchen. Helga hugged the girls and took them upstairs, while Mason fixed himself a plate and sat down across from Mimi.

“So what are you going to do with the journal?” Hawk asked.

“Journal?” Mimi said, looking at Mason.

Mason shrugged. “I don’t know. For now, I put it in a safe place.” He looked at his friends. “I suppose you read it? For info-gathering purposes?”

Hawk looked horrified. “It is not good to read someone’s private words. I don’t read your mail, do I?”

“Sorry,” Mason said. “I didn’t think about that.”

“It all comes down to powers of perception,” Hawk said.

Mason’s eyebrows rose. “Powers of perception?”

“Yes. You’re suppressing them. You seek answers, but you don’t really want them. For anything in your life.”

“Oh.” Mason sent a guilty look toward Mimi. “Now look, you fellows must be hungry. You’re off the case for now, so just enjoy Helga’s dinner.”

Jellyfish looked at Mimi. “I would marry you,” he said kindly, “but I never settle in one place for long.”

Mimi looked at the large hippie throwback with some concern. “Thank you. But I’m fine. Really. Nanette is fine.”

“What’s wrong with Nanette?” Mason demanded, his head rearing.

“Nothing,” Mimi said hastily, realizing that this topic was likely to provoke Mason.

“She has strong powers of perception,” Hawk said. “She needs you to understand.”

“Understand?” Mason’s brow furrowed. “Nanette is a little girl and she’s going to be just fine as long as she lives under my roof where I can protect her.”

Hawk and Jellyfish looked at Mason for a moment, then they looked at Mimi, before they went on with eating their food, making no comment. But Mimi thought Jellyfish and Hawk were on to something. Mason
was
suppressing. He was ignoring his feelings and everyone else’s. It didn’t matter what past he had to bury or what emotions he denied, no one and nothing was going to get under that cowboy’s protective layer.

He was so well defended from pain that he would likely never make the self-discovery his brothers had. It was going to be his way or no way. The new sheriff had a head of concrete, as Crockett had noted. And Mason was determined that his heart be fashioned of the same material.

She looked over at Mason, completely understanding why he was who he was, and knew she was the same as he.

It didn’t matter. She still loved him. Though a lot of good that would do her.

“I think I’ll go to bed,” she said, standing. “Good night, gentlemen.”

She put her plate in the sink and went upstairs. Nanette was in a bubble bath, blowing bubbles. Mimi tied up her hair and sat next to the tub, smiling at her daughter.

“Hi, Mommy,” Nanette said with a cherubic smile.

“I love you,” Mimi said.

“I know,” Nanette said. “Ms. Helga says I can have cookies after dinner.”

“She’s good to you.”

Nanette stared at the colors in a bubble, the translucent opalescence catching her attention. She was secure because of all the people who loved her.

“Mimi, can I talk to you for a minute?” Mason asked from behind her.

Mason looked at Mimi with strangely serious eyes. She felt her stomach jump with nerves. “Do you want me to towel Nanette off and get her dinner first? I need to get the sand out of the tub. Then Annette needs her bath,” she said, pointing to the little girl waiting patiently for her turn.

“I’ll help you. Come on, Nanette,” he said, lifting his daughter from the tub. “Let’s get you dried off.”

Ten minutes later, they had two previously sandy girls cleaned off and changed and sitting at the dinner table. Hawk and Jellyfish played cards, shuffling them with quick rat-a-tats of movement. Helga filled two little plates, grinning at the men’s antics as they deliberately showed off their card skills.

“We learned a lot while we were on the road,”
Hawk said, grinning at his giant partner. “Jellyfish can really charm the ladies out of their secrets.”

“Hmm,” Mimi said, “maybe a conversation for another time.”

They laughed, but Mason grabbed her hand, pulling her out onto the porch. “Now we need to discuss some things.”

“All right,” Mimi said, amazed by his sudden tenacity. She’d been in the house for a few days and he hadn’t seemed to possess a great urgency to communicate with her.

“First of all,” Mason said, “I did not tell Nanette that I was her real father. I was completely agreeable to the two of us telling her together. In fact, I thought that was the right thing to do.” He watched Mimi’s expression. “She surprised me. She called me Daddy and I…I couldn’t deny it.”

“It was time,” Mimi said softly. “I only wanted us to tell her together so that she’d be less traumatized or confused. Apparently, she is neither, and knows exactly who you are.” Mimi smiled. “I’m glad.”

Mason scratched his head under his hat. “I am, too.”

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” Mimi wasn’t certain she could stand any more heart-to-heart with Mason. It wasn’t a part of their relationship she was comfortable with now that they were at odds.

“Part of me thinks it’s better that you’re living in my house,” Mason said. “A big part of me believes you’re doing the right thing.”

Mimi frowned at him. “I’m never going to be separated from my daughter.”

“I wasn’t implying that,” Mason said hastily. “I was trying to figure out how we could make this less awkward between us. Housemates should have a reasonable amount of comfort around each other.”

“No,” Mimi said, feeling somewhat shattered that Mason thought he had to
try
to get along with her. “My comfort level’s fine.”

“Oh.” Mason looked at her. “Sometimes I miss our old friendship.”

Mimi nodded. “I know what you mean.”

He smiled. “You do?”

“Yes. I think to get it back, you need to let Nanette and me move back to our own little house.”

He shook his head. “That’s not what I had in mind.”

“What did you have in mind?” Mimi was amazed at the depth of thought Mason was expressing. “It’s hard to get something back once it’s gone.”

“Yeah.” Mason shifted. “I suppose that no matter what, our friendship has changed.”

Mimi nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“So since the old friendship can’t come back, I
would like for us to work on making Nanette’s childhood as normal as possible.”

“I’m okay with that. In fact, I’m grateful that you’re so interested in getting along with me.”

“I am. Mimi,” he said, his gaze narrowing on her, “why did Jellyfish say he’d marry you if he was more the settling kind?”

“I don’t know. Jellyfish can be very random. You know that. His mind is always working.”

Mason put big hands on her shoulders. An instant feeling of security swept over her as she stared at the Jefferson acres and felt this strong Jefferson man behind her.

“I think he has the right idea, but the wrong man.
We
should get married, Mimi.”

Mimi’s eyes widened. She was so thankful that Mason couldn’t see her expression. The words she had waited what seemed a lifetime to hear!

“For Nanette’s sake,” he continued. “It would be best.”

Mimi frowned slightly, perplexed.

“You and I know we can get along under the same roof. There’s no reason not to have a united front. It will make everything better for Nanette, now and in the future. If there was anything you and I had in our corners growing up, Mimi, we had our fathers.”

Was he proposing marriage—or a marriage of brave faces?

Whatever it was, it didn’t sound like what she’d been dreaming of.

She turned to him. “Is that with separate bedrooms or without?”

“Oh, well,” Mason said with a grin, “if you want sex written into the agreement, I can accommodate.”

Walking back inside, she grabbed her purse.

“Where are you going?” Mason demanded.

“Out,” Mimi said. “I need some fresh air.”

He frowned. “Do women usually need air when they’ve been asked to marry a man?”

“As far as I can tell, you’re not offering anything to get excited about,” Mimi said. “You’re just trying to keep your life as uncomplicated as possible.”

“Hang on,” Mason said. “I was trying to be more sensitive to my family. I was even trying to be perceptive.”

Mimi turned toward him angrily. “Mason, you have no powers of perception. Hawk and Jellyfish are wrong.”

She left, heading toward Calhoun’s house.

Mason caught up to her. “Listen, I know I’m not the world’s most softhearted guy. I don’t do candy and flowers. But I’m willing to give our family a
chance.” He touched her arm. “Mimi, I think it would be good for everyone involved.”

Mimi held her breath. Was she being selfish? What he was saying—if she looked at it unemotionally—made sense. She’d waited years for Mason to want to marry her. But she also wanted him to want her—and what it sounded like right now was that he wanted the marriage without the trimmings of true love.

“I never tried to trap you with sex, Mason,” she said, her real feelings pouring out. “Frankly, I don’t need a marriage to feel like I’m doing my best for Nanette. Sex? That was just something that happened between us. We blurred the lines of our friendship.” She took a deep breath. “I think it would be a mistake to blur the lines of marriage with an uneasy truce. Let’s not have any more confusion.”

He stared at her. “I didn’t feel like you tried to trap me with sex, Mimi, and if you took my pained joke a moment ago as a reference to that, then I apologize. If anything, what we shared that night was a golden opportunity to trap
you.
”

She looked at him askance, not trusting her ears. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m standing here. I’m proposing. Most importantly, I’m the father of our child.” His expres
sion was fierce and protective, a side of him Mimi had never seen before. “Think about it, Mimi. You and I—” he caught her hand to his heart “—we have a hell of a lot of history between us.”

She was so astonished she didn’t know what to say.

After a moment, he dropped her hand and walked away.

T
HE THING
M
ASON
had always appreciated the most about Mimi—besides her steadfast friendship—was her unpredictability. For once, he wished she were more predictable. Just when he thought he’d finally figured out a practical way to avoid getting his heart more involved than it was, she turned him on his head again.

Only this time it hurt. In fact, it was not just his head. His heart stung with the ache of rejection. He’d heard his brothers babble over the years about how painful falling in love was—all of them had gone to great lengths to proclaim their “wounds”—but nothing, absolutely nothing could be as painful as finally dredging up a proposal and having your woman look back at you as though you were crazy.

A woman was supposed to cry happy tears and drag her man down to the jewelry store for an engagement ring. Or do something romantic like make
a ring out of straw to seal the deal until the real thing could be procured.

But Mimi had stared at him, silent and apparently confused. It was disheartening, especially since he wanted so much to give his daughter what he’d had, which was a whole family. Sure, he hadn’t had a whole family his entire life, but his early years, he remembered, were pretty darn secure.

Then there was the matter of his father’s journal, which he didn’t intend to read, but which brought him mixed emotions of pain and gladness. It provided security, and the knowledge that one day he could look forward to his father’s thoughts and words, coming so many years after Maverick had left.

Security counted. Mason wanted Nanette to have it. Deep inside, he’d wanted Mimi to chase him a little, to show him that she knew that she wanted him. He was still stinging a bit that she’d married Brian. She had so much energy; he wanted her to use some of that energy discovering he was the only man for her.

True to her nature, Mimi had not chased. If anything, she’d become more aloof, he thought, striding into his house. More
friendly,
which was the death knell for romance as far as he was concerned.

“Hey,” Last said, as Mason walked into the house. “I’m heading down to Calhoun’s. The kids are
already there. He’s going to have a marshmallow toast outside. You wanna go?”

Nanette was going to roast her first marshmallow without him? Mason hesitated, even as his mind was in a dither about Mimi’s nonacceptance of his very generous offer.

“You look tired,” Last said. “Fatherhood tuckering you out?”

“No,” Mason said with a glare. “Don’t get started about how old dads need their sleep, either.”

Last grunted. “Okay, Pops.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Mason snapped.

“You always do, Mason.” Last looked at him. “Anything I can help with?”

“Actually, I think you can.” Mason sighed. “Let’s walk down to the marshmallow toast, and I’ll tell you everything.”

They headed out the front door. Last could help Mason make a decision about the journal. Last was also an excellent person to wheeze to about Mimi.

“Hawk and Jellyfish made a find while they were gone this time,” Mason said. “They brought back a journal Dad had been keeping when he stayed up north.”

Last stopped in his tracks. “A journal? How? What kind?”

“I don’t know exactly. I haven’t read it. I don’t want anybody else to know until I’ve had a chance to read it. Then I’ll decide the proper way to pass it around.”

“No,” Last said. “That’s not right. You had to protect us when we were young, but now you don’t make decisions for any of us anymore. You make decisions for the family ranch, with all of us in council. We should all read the journal at the same time. Good or bad, it’s the only way it should be done.”

Mason nodded with satisfaction. “You’re exactly right. We’ll pick a time in the near future. Soon. We’ll make sure we have babysitters and schedule a few hours to see what Dad had on his mind.”

“Man, that’s weird,” Last said. “Dad leaving a journal, and you talking about needing a babysitter all in one breath. Every day brings a new surprise, doesn’t it?”

Mason grunted. “That brings me to my other topic of discussion. I proposed to Mimi.”

Last stopped, then began pounding him happily on the back. “That’s great!”

“No, it’s not,” Mason said. “She didn’t accept.”

Last raised a brow. “Mimi didn’t accept?”

“No. She just stood there and stared at me. I felt pretty stupid, actually.”

Last rubbed his chin. “Usually women are not
silent about proposals. It’s either yes or no. Smiles or tears. Or they run away. But that’s rare.”

“Mimi would never run away,” Mason said, but the thought made him worry. No, as long as he had Nanette, Mimi would stay close by.

“So what kind of brotherly advice do you want?”

“Well,” Mason said slowly, “I think it would be best if she accepted.”

“I see.” Last raised an eyebrow. “And did you tell her that?”

“I think so,” Mason said. “I’m certain I stressed my thoughts on that subject very clearly.”

“I think I’m beginning to see some of what’s going on,” Last said. “When you proposed, did you have a ring?”

“No.”

“It’s not entirely necessary,” Last said kindly, “but sometimes it does help make your point more emphatically.”

Mason shrugged. “The idea came upon me on the spur of the moment.”

“And did your proposal go something like, ‘Mimi, I think it would be best if we got married for Nanette’s sake?”

“I probably said something like that.”

“Did you say anything about the color of her eyes?”

“Hell, no,” Mason said. “Mimi knows what color her eyes are.” He looked at Last with a frown. “If that’s the best advice you can spoon out, I’m in a big bowl of trouble.”

“Not to be too personal, but by chance, did you tell her you loved her? Adored her? Anything that might derive from the Latin noun
amor?
”

“I approached it in a calm, rational, levelheaded manner,” Mason said. “Unlike the rest of you, who either needed to fall out of a tree or a hang glider or a hot air balloon to figure out marriage might be your bandage.”

“Yeesh,” Last said, “let’s keep walking. This one’s gonna be tricky, and I don’t want to miss the toasting.”

Mason grimaced. The only toasting he had felt lately was when he was in bed with Mimi the other day. Then old feelings had simmered to the surface, making him realize he had more interest than he’d been allowing himself to remember.

Just thinking about it made him heat up.

“Bro, if I’d been Mimi, I don’t think I would have taken you seriously,” Last admitted.

That was the last thing Mason wanted to hear. “Well, there’s sure nothing funny about a marriage proposal.”

“Yeah, but it sounds like you offered it to her with about as much enthusiasm as you might have for
boiled cabbage—not that I’m referring to Helga’s cooking or anything.”

“I like boiled cabbage!”

Last sighed. “I don’t. I want my cabbage fresh, hot and sassy, if you know what I mean.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Only you could equate sex and cabbage.”

“Dude, that’s my point! If you were really in love with Mimi, and you really, really wanted to marry her, even something as simple as a lowly head of cabbage would take on a special glow.”