heroes, riding in to rescue me from myself. “Yes, it’s time to come in, boys.” She went to hug them. Taking a deep breath, she held their hands and turned around to face the small assembly. “I’d like to introduce you all to my sons, Toby and Josh. They’re my family and the reason for my being.”
No one said a word. Pepper thought she saw sympathy in Liberty’s and Jessie’s faces, but everyone else sat thunderstruck.
Helen rose first, walking to Toby and Josh with an expression of determination and interest behind her black-rimmed glasses. “I’m Helen Granger,” she told the boys, with a solemn handshake for each. “We’re so glad you’ve come to live in Tulips.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Pansy Trifle said, hopping up to join her friend. “This is a wonderful place for boys to grow up. You’ll really like it here.”
The twins shook hands with each woman, but Duke and Zach couldn’t seem to move from their chairs. So their wives got up, dragging their husbands with them.
“I’m your aunt, Liberty, and this is your uncle, Duke. He’s the sheriff of Tulips,” Liberty said. “You also have three small cousins.”
“Uncle?” Duke repeated. “How old are you boys?”
“Thirteen,” they said together.
He nodded, giving Pepper a swift glance. “I’ve been an uncle for thirteen years.” Looking back at the twins, he shook their hands. “Guess I’m the lucky one.”
“Me, too,” Zach said swiftly, following behind. “I’m your uncle, Zach, and this is your aunt, Jessie, and our babies, Mattie and James.”
Everyone else in the room got up to introduce themselves, but the boys were stilted and awkward with the adults. After a while, Pepper knew it was time to take them to the Triple F. “We’re going home now,” she said, looking at her brothers. “We’re going to spend the night at the ranch until we can get our things unpacked at the house. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take them there by myself for some alone time. Just about an hour.” It meant a lot to her that her boys not be nervous or worried. She knew how they were feeling. If she could, she wanted to keep them from being completely overwhelmed, sothat they could acquaint themselves with the Triple F slowly.
“By all means,” Duke said, “it’s where you all belong.” He looked at his young nephews. “You’ll like it at the ranch.”
“Mom says she’s bought a house and a clinic,” Toby said. “We get our own bedroom.”
Duke nodded. “You like to bunk together or separately?”
“We’re used to sharing,” Toby said. “One room is enough.” He looked up at Duke. “Will you have enough space for us?”
“Space is something we don’t have to worry about at the Triple F,” Duke said. “I promise you’ll be in good shape while we get your house fixed up. And anyway, the Triple F will always be your home, too. You’ve got two, now.”
Pepper felt the tears coming again and brushed them away impatiently. “Thank you.”
Zach shook his head. “No need for thanks. It’s your house just as much as ours.”
She hadn’t been sure her brothers would still want her there. Liberty and Jessie hugged her, and the tears Pepper had been determined to hold back poured from her eyes. She reached out to hug her boys to her, fiercely proud of them, glad she’d finally brought them home.
Chapter Two
The Tulips Saloon Gang watched as Pepper left with her two sons. The silence inside the place…well, Duke thought it said a whole lot. Everyone was thinking, searching their minds, trying to recover from the shock.
Duke looked at his brother. Both of their wives were seated, silently gazing up at them, as were Pansy, Helen, Hiram and Bug. Duke shook his head, completely at a loss. “We’ve been too hard on her over the years,” he told Zach.
Zach nodded. “I was thinking the same damn thing.”
Duke shoved his hands in his pockets. “Part of me is angry as hell that she never told us. The bigger part of me knows exactly why she did it.”
Zach sank into a chair and Duke did the same, though he was surprised his knees would bend. He felt more like falling over, poleaxed. “We always looked to her to be the responsible one,” Zach said.
“Because she was,” Duke said. “Obviously. She’s managed to do more with her life than I’ve done with mine.”
Zach nodded. “I was still sowing oats while she was finishing up med school. I don’t know how she did it with kids.”
“Well, clearly Aunt Jerry was a very helpful conspirator. That must be why Pepper lived up north all those years—to be close to Aunt Jerry.”
“It still couldn’t have been easy.” Zach looked at his brother. “I wish she’d felt that she could have come to us when she was in trouble.”
Duke shrugged. “I doubt Pepper ever thought she was in trouble. I think she just took care of her business, as she always has.” He glanced at Pansy and Helen and the rest of the gang. “I hope everyone will take in our new family members with open arms.”
Pansy gasped. “Why, Duke Forrester, how could you suggest that we’d do anything but?”
He put up a mollifying hand. “I didn’t mean that quite the way it sounded. I should have said, ‘Thank you for accepting our new family members with open arms.’”
Helen sniffed. “I think Pepper Forrester has more grit in her than most women I’ve met in my life, and men, too.” She glanced at Hiram and Bug. “There’s a difference between grit and being gritty.”
They nodded at the friendly teasing.
“We’re gonna have to teach those young boys a thing or two about life,” Bug said.
“Like how to lead a parade?” Pansy asked, since he was Tulips’s unofficial parade master.
“No,” Hiram said, “how to be responsible.”
“You live in a jail,” Helen pointed out, returning to Hiram’s odd propensity to reside in the one and only jail cell in Tulips. “Though you do keep your cell quite tidy.”
“Yes, but I have a room at Liberty’s when I feel like it,” Hiram said proudly, “and I’m willing to offer it up when you all figure out how you’re going to get him home.”
“Him who?” Bug asked. “All of us are here tonight, except Holt, who had an unexpected hair emergency at the salon.” He looked at Bug. “I hope your wife quits trying to color her own hair soon. This is the third time she’s gone green.”
“Him—the father of Pepper’s boys,” Hiram said, as if no one else had the sense to think clearly.
Duke sat up straight in his chair. “Father?” he repeated, his brain in a stunned fog. “There is no father.”
They all stared at him,
