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“The groom does, Nick. Isn’t there someone back in Lawton expecting a marriage proposal from you? You could make it a double wedding with Sam, you know, and save Mom a lot of extra work.”
Nick looked pointedly at his sister. “I’m doing just fine, sis. Thanks anyway.”
“I was only hoping,” Kathleen said with a laugh.
Tired of sitting from the long drive across Oklahoma, Nick got to his feet and joined his mother and sister at the work island in the middle of the kitchen.
“Is Old Lady Lee still living?” he asked thoughtfully. “I see Sam planted the fields around her house this year.”
“I’m sad to say she’s in a nursing home now,” Ella told him. “The poor dear could no longer see to take care of herself. And Allison, well, she has all she can do as it is. Still, the little thing feels so guilty about her grandmother.”
Nick turned to his sister in confusion. “Who is this Allison she’s talking about? The only person I ever remember living in that house was Old Lady Lee.”
“Nick!” his mother scolded. “Quit calling her that. You know her name is Martha. My word, she fed you licorice every day of your young life.”
“Yeah, and I hate licorice. But I kept going to see her thinking she’d give me something different,” Nick confessed.
“Oh, my, you were awful,” Kathleen said with a groan.
Nick gave her a wicked smile. “Awful good, sis,” he teased, then asked, “So, who’s living in Old Lady Lee’s house now? There was wood on the porch.”
His mother gave him an impatient look. “Why, Allison, of course! Martha’s granddaughter.”
“She’ll be here tonight for supper,” Kathleen explained, then with an impish smile, she reached up and grabbed his chin. “She’s coming over to help us with some of the wedding preparations.” Still holding on to his face, she glanced at Ella. “Look at him, Mother. Isn’t he the most handsome thing? Who do you think is more handsome, him or Sam?”
Nick made a face at his sister and playfully swatted her hand away.
Ella’s eyes were suddenly misty as she raised on tiptoe to kiss her son’s cheek. “It’s so good to have you home, Nick. Christmas wouldn’t be right if you weren’t here.”
“Of course it wouldn’t,” Nick said with a waggle of his eyebrows. “If I weren’t here, Santa would skip right over the Gallagher house.”
Kathleen quickly switched on the coffeemaker and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on while the coffee perks, Nick, and look at the Christmas tree. We trimmed it just last night and it’s absolutely beautiful.”
* * *
Allison Lee clutched her three-year-old son’s arm with one hand and waved at the day-care worker with the other. “See you in the morning, Cybil.”
“You drive safely, Allison,” the woman replied. “The radio reported rain moving in and the streets are so busy now—everyone is out Christmas shopping.”
Everyone but her, Allison thought wearily as she hustled Benjamin to the car. She appreciated her job as a bank teller, but even when the holidays weren’t going on, her paycheck did well to take care of the necessities of living.
Once Benjamin was safely buckled into his car seat, Allison started the car and headed home. Her route took her down busy Rogers Avenue. As she passed the huge shopping mall to her left, she noticed the parking lot was completely filled with cars.
With a wistful look in her green eyes, Allison thought of the few friends she would like to buy gifts for this Christmas. But it looked as though she’d been lucky to manage getting Benjamin’s toys out of lay-away.
Don’t be feeling sorry for yourself, Allison. You have a warm roof over your head and a beautiful, healthy son. That’s more than lots of people will have this Christmas.
The reminder made Allison shake back her long strawberry blond hair with a proud toss of her head. She wasn’t a person who whined or thought she deserved more than her fair share of things. She was doing the best she could as a single mother, and if her friends didn’t understand, then they weren’t her friends.
“I’m hungry, Mommy. Let’s eat.”
Allison glanced back at her son. He wasn’t a chatterbox, but when he did talk, his meaning was clear.
“As soon as we get home I’ll fix something, honey,” she promised, then suddenly remembered she was supposed to go to the Gallaghers’ tonight. Two days ago Ella had asked Allison if she could come over and help get things ready for Sam and Olivia’s wedding. Then this afternoon she’d called again to tell her that Nick had surprised everyone by coming home early, and that they’d be expecting her and Ben by six-thirty.
Allison stifled a tired groan at the idea. She’d had an extremely long shift working the drive-in window at the bank, and the steady stream of customers had scarcely let up throughout the day. Her head was fuzzy and her neck and shoulders ached from sitting in one position. A can of soup and bed was all she needed or wanted tonight.
But the Gallaghers were so wonderful to her that Allison could hardly ignore the invitation. Since she’d moved into her grandmother’s house, they’d taken her in and treated her almost like a family member. Benjamin felt at home there, too, and ever since S.T. had taken him for a ride on the tractor, he thought the older man was Santa Claus himself.
She glanced once again at her son. “How would you like to eat with Ella and S.T. tonight, Ben?”
“Yeah! Yeah! Tractor ride!”
Allison shook her head. “We can’t ride the tractor tonight. It’s too dark and cold. But I’ll bet Jake and Leo will be somewhere around the house, and you know how much they like to play with you.”
At the mention of the collies, Benjamin forgot about the tractor and began to talk about his last visit with Jake and Leo. Allison did her best to watch the heavy traffic and converse with her son at the same time. All the while she wondered what Ella and S.T.’s other son was like.
She’d heard different members of the Gallagher family mention him from time to time. She knew he was around twenty-four years old and had been serving in the military for the past six years. Ella had told her he was tall and handsome, but didn’t every mother think her son was handsome? she asked herself, her eyes automatically filling with pride as she looked at Benjamin.
Thankfully, her son looked like her and not like the father who’d abandoned them long before Benjamin had been born. Larry didn’t deserve to have a child resemble him. The only thing he deserved was to be treated in the same unpardonable way he’d treated her.
A few minutes later, she and Benjamin arrived at the old farmhouse. She quickly gave him a graham cracker to snack on while she rummaged through her closet for something to wear.
Most of her clothes were left over from her college days. All of them were well-worn, so there was no danger in her overdressing, she thought drearily.
Allison had gotten one year of higher education behind her before she’d met Benjamin’s father, Larry. For a short time she’d allowed herself to be drawn in by his slick charms, his vows of love and the plans he had for their future. Their future.
She gave a deprecating snort at the idea. The only plan Larry had really had was to get her into his bed.
Up until a few months ago Allison had lived in Monroe, Louisiana. She’d been born there and had grown up there, but the place held nothing for her now. Her mother had died a long time ago. After his wife’s death Clifford Lee had never cared much what happened to his daughter. Now that Allison had Benjamin, Clifford Lee had completely turned his back on her and his grandson.
She’d learned a hard lesson about men and responsibilities when Larry had walked out on her. But she’d learned an even harder one, she supposed, when her father had discarded her like an old rug he’d grown tired of stepping on. She could still remember him calling her a worthless embarrassment and that he wanted her out of his house and out of his life. He wasn’t about to let her stick him with raising another kid.
Allison had been three months pregnant at the time and nearing the end of her sophomore spring semester at Northeast Louisiana University. She’d had no alternative but to move out of the house and drop the last of her classes. Up until Benjamin had been born, she’d worked as a bookkeeper for a lumber company. But after that she’d found it nearly impossible to pay her rent and have enough left from her paycheck to care for her son and herself. If it hadn’t been for her Grandmother Lee, Allison didn’t know where she would have been living now, or how she would have been surviving. The older woman had convinced her to come to Arkansas and live in her house. The place was old and a bit run-down, but at least it would take away the added burden of paying rent.
The past three years had been difficult ones for Allison, but since she’d moved to Arkansas in May things were slowly improving. She had a better job, a house to live in, and for the first time since her mother had died, she had a real family—her son and her grandmother.
The three of them would more than likely be the only family she would ever have. But that was just the way Allison wanted it. In her dictionary, the definition of man was trouble. And she didn’t want trouble entering her life or her family’s ever again.
* * *
“Oh my, that’s really going to look pretty, girls,” Ella said appreciatively, eyeing the long dining table. “Especially when we get the wedding cake and serving dishes on it.”
Kathleen had covered the dark aged wood with a white lace tablecloth and Olivia had put together two flower arrangements of white and red poinsettias to flank the cake. Now the three women were standing back, admiring the effect of their handiwork.
“I think we need candles,” Olivia said, just as Sam and Nick walked into the room.
The two brothers exchanged grins. “Does this woman of yours have eating or romancing on her mind?” Nick teased.
With a wicked smile on his face, Sam went to
Olivia and slipped an arm around her waist. “Both, I hope,” he said.
Kathleen continued to study the table with a critical eye. “You’re right, Olivia. Candles would make it perfect.”
“There’s some in the kitchen pantry,” Ella said. “And I think I can find a pair of silver holders in the buffet. They’re probably tarnished, but we can clean them tonight with the rest of the silverware.”
Earlier that afternoon, Nick had changed out of his military khaki. Now he looped his thumbs into the pockets of his blue jeans and rocked back on the heels of his cowboy boots as he eyed the elaborate table. “I thought this was just going to be a simple wedding. Am I really worth all of this?”
Sam groaned, and Kathleen said, “We didn’t even know if you were actually going to be here or not.”
Nick looked offended. “Sam knew I’d be here even if the rest of you didn’t think so. Isn’t that right, Sam?”
Sam snorted. “I knew if you didn’t show up, you’d better have a hell of an excuse.”
Nick laughed at his brother’s stern warning. Sam had always been the serious one. Even back when they’d been teenagers, it had been a major effort just to make him laugh. There’d been a time when Nick had wished his older brother would lighten up. But now that they’d grown older, Nick knew he wouldn’t want his brother Sam any other way.
“Sam! Do you always talk to your brother like this?” Olivia asked, amazed.
Nick laughed. So did Ella as she came back into the room carrying two white candles. “Olivia, from the time Nick was old enough to walk, Sam has ordered him around and threatened him to within an inch of his life when he wouldn’t obey. Nick’s used to it.”
“Never did mind you very much either, did I, big brother?” he asked with a playful poke at Sam’s rib cage.
Sam gave him a dour look, but then his lips twitched with something close to a grin. “You want Allison to see you with a bloody nose?”
Nick cocked a brow at him, then touched the bridge of his nose. “I’d hate for you to have to get married with two black eyes. Olivia might want to postpone the honeymoon.”
Sam laughed, then pressed a kiss against the curve of Olivia’s cheek. “A couple of black eyes couldn’t keep us apart, could they, honey?”
“Nothing could ever keep us apart,” Olivia murmured.
Nick watched Olivia look adoringly at his brother and wondered what it would feel like to be loved like that. He’d never seen such love on anyone’s face before and he felt a stab of jealousy in spite of himself.
“By the way, Mom,” Kathleen said, glancing at her wristwatch, “is there anything I need to do in the kitchen before Allison arrives?”
“No. The sandwiches and snacks are all ready.”
“What about a high chair for Ben?” Olivia asked.
Ella shook her head. “Ben thinks he’s too big for a high chair. I usually let him sit on my granite roasting pan.”
Nick was thoroughly confused as he tried to follow the women’s conversation. “Allison has a small child?” he asked. “I thought she was an elderly woman. Why, Old Lady Lee is probably close to a hundred, isn’t she?”
“Nicholas, I’m going to whack you if I hear you say ‘Old Lady Lee’ one more time. What will Allison think of you? Especially when I’ve told her that you’re my most mannerly child.”
“That’s not saying too much for us, is it, Kathleen?” Sam commented.
Nick shook his head helplessly. To be honest, he wished his mother hadn’t invited anyone to the house tonight. He’d wanted to spend his first evening back home with just his family. Now he was going to have to make a point of being polite to some woman he’d never seen in his life. He liked meeting people but not tonight.
He almost wished he’d volunteered for Captain Logan’s maneuvers drill and come home a day later. Toting an M16 over miles of wet, dark terrain seemed like a party compared to the evening ahead of him.
Chapter 2
“Now listen, Ben, you must remember to be polite tonight,” Allison told her son as she stepped up on the Gallaghers’ back porch. “Ella thinks you’re a good little boy.”
“I am,” he replied solemnly.
Allison didn’t know whether to laugh or cross her fingers. “I know. That’s why I’m counting on you to be on your best behavior.”
“Where’s Jake and Leo?” the child asked, tugging on his mother’s arm just as she raised it to knock on the screen door.
“I don’t know. We’ll find out when we get inside,” she told him, then reached to slick down the unruly cowlick at his forehead.
Kathleen answered the door and quickly ushered them into the house.
“Take off your coat, Allison, and I’ll help Ben with his,” Kathleen said, already kneeling to assist the small boy.
“My goodness, what a pretty dress. You didn’t have to go to such pains for us,” Ella spoke from across the room.
Allison’s fair complexion became tinged with a delicate pink as she unconsciously smoothed a hand down the moss green skirt. “Thank you, Ella, but this dress has been in the washing machine more times than I could count.”
“Come on to the den,” Kathleen urged her. “I’m dying for you to meet Nick.”
When Allison and Kathleen entered the den, Nick was standing with his back to the fireplace, listening quietly as his father and brother talked farming.
“Well, there’s my little Ben,” S.T. boomed out as he spotted the small boy. “Come here, son.”
The redheaded child ran eagerly to the older Gallagher and climbed up on his lap, while Kathleen urged Allison farther into the room.
Nick tried not to stare, but he felt as if someone had whopped him over the head. The woman with his sister was nothing like he’d been expecting. She was young and lovely. Extremely lovely.
“Allison, this is my brother, Sergeant First Class Nicholas Gallagher. The infamous one, we all like to say,” Kathleen added jokingly.
Allison moved forward and offered her hand to Nick. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said.
So this was Old Lady Lee’s granddaughter! She had the most gorgeous red hair he’d ever seen. Or was it blond? Whatever color, the shoulder-length curly tresses went perfectly with her ivory white skin and sea green eyes. Why hadn’t anyone told him a vision was living next to the Gallagher farm?
“Hello, Allison. And before we go any further, whatever my family has told you about me is definitely not true.”
There was a sparkle in his dark blue eyes that Allison couldn’t quite ignore. She found herself smiling back at him in spite of the warning signals going off in her head. “Actually, I didn’t believe the part about you eating bullets for breakfast.”
Nick’s smile grew broader. “You were right. I wouldn’t eat bullets unless I had cinnamon toast to go with them.”
Across the room, Sam made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh. Deliberately ignoring his brother, Nick continued to hold Allison Lee’s small hand in his. “Mom tells me you’re Martha’s granddaughter,” he went on, careful to use the old woman’s given name.
Allison looked back at Nick Gallagher. Ella had been right when she’d described her son. He was a tall, handsome man. On first glance his closely cropped hair appeared almost black, but on second look she saw that it was actually a deep shade of auburn. Yet he didn’t have the fair complexion of a redhead. In fact, his complexion was darker than Sam’s or his father’s. A result of his job, she supposed.
At the moment his lean, angular face was creased in a smile that dimpled his right cheek and displayed his straight white teeth.
