“This month, at least,” Kayla said wryly. “Anyway, you mustn’t wear yourself out cooking for us.”
“A picnic is nothing. I made ten gallons of chili and all the corn bread for the church’s booth at the rodeo.”
Kayla grabbed a carrot stick from a plate on the table and crunched it down. “Okay, so what can I do to help?”
“You don’t need to—”
“Yes, I do,” Kayla interrupted firmly. “And I want the kids to do chores while they’re here. They need to learn self-discipline.” Her grandparents were terrific people, but they were too indulgent.
“I’m sure you’re right,” her grandmother agreed slowly, a flicker of melancholy in her eyes.
Abruptly Kayla wished she hadn’t said anything—Granddad had spoken of how they blamed themselves for how their daughter had lived her life. Maybe they had made mistakes, but people needed to take responsibility for their decisions...such as having sex at sixteen. Kayla didn’t blame anyone else for her teen pregnancy. She might not have been as experienced as Jackson, but she’d known there could be consequences.
An hour later she was peeling eggs for the potato salad when Granddad arrived with sandwiches and milk shakes from the Roundup Café.
“Lunch,” he called.
The kids appeared at the back door, blinking sleepily.
“Don’t worry, I got a grilled cheese for you,” Granddad said to Alex. “They don’t serve much vegetarian food in Schuyler, but the toasted cheese isn’t bad.”
Kayla restrained a smile while her son tried not to look envious as everyone else unwrapped their hamburgers. The Roundup Café made a mean burger, stacked high with juicy, fire-grilled patties, sliced onions, pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. If possible, they were even better than she remembered.
DeeDee smacked her lips when she was finished. “Yum. Too bad you’re a vegan, Alex.”
“Shows how much you know. I’m not a vegan. Vegans don’t eat cheese.” Alex popped a French fry into his mouth and chewed grumpily.
His sister shrugged. “Mom, can I go out and explore Schuyler some more?”
“Not yet,” Kayla said. “I’m going to talk with your brother right now, and after that we need to have another discussion.”
“Ah, Mom. Why can’t you talk to both of us together?”
“Shove it, squirt,” Alex warned, getting to his feet. “You don’t have to be in on everything.”
DeeDee stuck out her tongue.
“Careful,” Elizabeth warned. “A fly might land there.”
“Or it might get stuck that way,” Granddad added, “and you’ll have to go through life with your tongue hanging out like a sheepdog.”
“Oh, puleeze,” DeeDee groused.
Elizabeth’s eyes twinkled at her husband. “I’m afraid we’re behind the times, Hank. Our jokes are dated.”
“And proud of it.”
DeeDee giggled.
Even after such a short time with her grandparents, Kayla could see how comfortably the kids were settling in. It was something they’d never experienced, the sense of extended family. Curtis had been a foster child and Kayla’s mother was in and out of their lives—mostly out—depending upon her sobriety.
Back in Alex’s room he sat on the bed, while Kayla took the chair.
“I saw your birth father this morning,” she told him. “And I thought you might have some questions. I’ll tell you whatever I know.”
“No more secrets?”
“No more secrets,” she promised. “If I don’t have an answer for you, I’ll try to get one.”
“Okay. Last night you said it was complicated, you know, about why my birth dad never visited me in Seattle. Didn’t he know about me?”
Kayla swallowed. Depending on how she told her son, Alex might never want to meet Jackson. But as tempting as it was to keep him out of their lives, it wouldn’t be fair to her son.
“I told Jackson I was pregnant,” she explained carefully, “only he didn’t think it was possible because he’d used condoms. We were kids, and kids don’t always handle that sort of situation well. That’s one of the reasons I don’t want you to jump into an intimate relationship too young. Accidental pregnancy, STDs, they’re all out there, and protection isn’t a hundred percent, no matter what you use.”
“Jeez, Mom, you sound like a broken record.”
“I don’t care. I don’t regret having you, but that doesn’t mean I want you to become a father before you’re ready.”
Her son’s face scrunched up, reminding her of when he was small. He’d always been such a serious child, as if contemplating the weight of the world.
“Maybe this Jackson guy wasn’t ready to be a dad, either,” he said slowly. “And that’s why he didn’t believe it.”
Kayla blinked. “You could be right, but that’s water under the bridge.”
Alex stared at his shoes for a minute. “What’s he like?”
“If you mean what kind of man is he, I don’t know yet. But I can tell you some facts. He’s a rancher, which is what he wanted to be when he was in high school. His spread is called the Crazy Horse and he raises both cattle and horses. The McGregors go way back in this area. So does his mom’s family, the Nelsons. They were kind of rivals, I guess, until Parker and Sarah got married.”
“After I found out about the adoption I figured my birth dad would be an artist or something.”
Her son focused on his shoes again and Kayla’s heart ached for him. Montana was a world away from Seattle, and he was probably hoping his biological father would be more like him. “You should also know that Jackson was rather reckless as a teenager,” she said. “He was quite sexually active by the time he was seventeen.”
“Duh. I wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t.”
“Yes, but it turns out that one of Jackson’s other high school girlfriends also got pregnant. He has a daughter named Morgan about a month older than you.”
Alex stared. “Jeez, Mom! That’s messy.”
Kayla couldn’t help laughing at the apt description. “It is messy,” she agreed. “But we have to deal with it. The other girlfriend, Marcy, lived on the ranch next door to his parents’. They broke up and he went out with other girls, including me. Not long before your grandmother Carolyn and I left Schuyler, Jackson went back to Marcy and they got married right after graduation.”
“You mean his other girlfriend was already
