A Callahan Wedding

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Jonas didn’t reply. What the hell did his brothers know about anything, anyway?

He could be Dr. Commitment.

He could fix everything.

* * *

“I THINK MATTERS ARE pretty much as you’d want them to be, Fiona,” Chelsea said on the phone that evening as she relaxed in the Callahan guesthouse. It was comfortable here. The Callahans were nice, and they never bothered her, just seemed determined that she eat with whatever Callahan brother’s family had an extra seat that night. Altogether, being here was an enjoyable adventure, and the experience would give her a lot of material for the next mystery she was writing. “Jonas has a new baby—”

“A baby!” Fiona’s voice was like an explosion in her ear.

“Yes. His name is Joe. Sabrina’s the mother—”

“Sabrina McKinley!” Fiona chortled. “That is going to be one wily child. I wonder which parent he’ll be most like? Jonas is slow and studious, and Sabrina is quick-witted and adventurous.”

“He looks like Jonas,” Chelsea said thoughtfully, “but I do think he has some of his mom’s mannerisms. Sometimes when he sits in his carrier looking out at the world, I could swear he knows exactly what’s going on.”

“Tell me more,” Fiona said.

“Well, there was some guy here who apparently hacked into Seton’s computer in his effort to find your sister and her husband—”

“What?” Fiona’s voice over the phone sounded strained. “They caught him?”

“I heard they did.” It was hard to listen in on conversations around the ranch and not ask questions. Chelsea tried not to arouse suspicions. The last thing she wanted anyone to know was that Fiona had put her up to coming over with Jonas to “report” on the family. When he had proposed, it had seemed to Fiona like a golden opportunity, and she’d hatched this plan. Chelsea had been fine with it, excited to come to America, but she’d quickly figured out there were a lot of deep currents under the seemingly placid Callahan waters. “They had to release him, though.”

“That worries me.”

“It was strange, because the guy had been living in the canyons for years, biding his time. Sort of a secret cell, waiting for something to come to light.”

“Hmm. I don’t like the sound of this. Chelsea, are you all right in Diablo, or do you want to come home?”

“I’ll be fine for another week or so, I think.” It really was pretty in Diablo, so different from Ireland. Her mother was in good hands at the moment, so an adventure was probably best for all of them.

“Thanks. I’ll talk to Burke and see what he thinks we should do. Call me soon, all right?”

“I will.” Chelsea hung up the phone and looked out the window, where she could see Sabrina and Jonas with little Joe. She smiled at the picture the three of them made. Never had she seen a man more gaga for a woman than Jonas. He really had been fooling himself about not marrying Sabrina.

I’d like having a man so crazy about me. The problem is, I’m too picky for my own good.

* * *

“I CAN’T DO IT,” JONAS told Sabrina as they took a stroll around the ranch that night. Little Joe dozed in Jonas’s arms. “I can’t find myself. You’ll have to choose some other Herculean task for me to perform.”

Sabrina stared at the man who’d fathered her child, and shook her head. “What spooked you?”

“I’m not sure. It was a combination of things. You’ll have to choose a different test.”

Sabrina watched the moon glowing in the New Mexico sky, and thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen besides little Joe. “It’s not a test, Jonas. It’s just giving you time to figure out what you really want in life. And you can’t do that until you know what happened in your past. I think the past determines the future.” She reached up to run her hand across his cheek. “When I first met you, your aunt had hired me to tell you a yarn. I did that, only because I knew Fiona had her heart in the right place, that she was trying to help you Callahans, and not hurt you. I just don’t want you to ever regret that you married a woman who was out to trick you. Remember when I told you that the ranch was in trouble?”

“Yes,” Jonas said, “and it was.”

“Well, that’s the point. It still is.”

He rubbed his chin. “Just from a different source.”

“Exactly.” She knew the sheriff had released the man Sam had caught snooping around Rancho Diablo. And why wouldn’t the spy go right back to doing what he’d been doing—trying to find their parents? After all, that’s what he’d been hired and trained to do. “Maybe you should talk to him again.”

“I don’t think so. He’s not going to give up any more information. Anyway, you’re going about this all wrong. You should marry me, and then let me solve all these issues as they become solvable.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Sabrina said. “But you have a lot to do. You don’t need to be sidetracked right now.”

“There are more important things in life than worrying about the ranch, or about the past. Like watching little Joe pull himself up today. I’d rather focus on the good things.”

“I know,” Sabrina said, “but every marriage has rough patches. Take care of this rough patch first. You’ll thank me later.”

“I don’t know,” Jonas said. “I feel strangely compelled to get into bed with you instead of playing Sherlock Holmes.”

Sabrina smiled. “I never said you couldn’t seduce me, cowboy.”

Jonas’s eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t?”

She shook her head slowly. “No, but maybe I should. You’ll work harder.”

“I was always the guy who worked best with incentives,” Jonas said, pulling her close with his free arm. “Try me with the carrot-and-stick approach and see what happens, beautiful.”

“Jonas!” Sabrina giggled and put up no fight as they stepped through the door of the main house.

Five pairs of eyes stared at them.

“Hi, Jonas,” Rafe said. “Did you forget it’s time for the weekly meeting?”

“Uh…” Jonas carefully untangled himself from Sabrina and looked around at his brothers. “Can I skip this one?”

“Jonas,” Sabrina said quickly, “you have your meeting. I’m going to go give Joe his bath. ’Bye, guys.” She gathered the baby into her arms and stepped back into the night air, taking a deep breath as she went.

It had been a long time since Jonas had held her. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on him.

Yet rushing things wouldn’t help anything.

She drove to Corinne’s and went up the stairs to draw a nice bath for Joe. The house was dark and empty, and Sabrina wondered where her aunt was. She set Joe in the tub, washing him with a mild, lavender-scented shampoo. He splashed in the water, delighted with this playtime.

She didn’t want to rush Jonas, but moments like these were so sweet they were meant to be shared with the father of her child. He’d lost six months of Joe’s babyhood.

It would be easy to accept Jonas’s proposal. But if she hadn’t had Joe, maybe Jonas would have married Chelsea, or some other woman. What did marriage mean to Jonas? Partnership? Companionship?

Sabrina wasn’t certain.

For her, it had to be true love. That’s all she planned to say yes to—true love, the real deal.

“Or it’s just going to be me and you, babe,” she told little Joe, rinsing his hair carefully. “And we’re a pretty good team, anyway.”

Joe looked up at her and splashed the water again. Droplets flew, and Sabrina smiled. He was such a good baby, such a sweetheart. Being a mother was the best part of her life now, even though she’d never imagined how much having a child would mean to her. Motherhood had changed her in so many wonderful ways.

Being a father was going to change Jonas, too. It already had. She could feel him yearning to be with his son, so much so that she wondered if his feelings for her really were all about her being the mother of his child.

Only time would tell. Going slowly would give them both time to be sure, especially Jonas. If she never got to share parenthood with Jonas, that was the way it would have to be.

Life wasn’t always perfect, even if she wished it so.

Chapter Four

One week after Jonas had nearly managed to get Sabrina into bed with him—almost!—he sat in the tearoom and bookstore of the Books’n’Bingo Society shop, staring at the three women who were determined to buttonhole him into civic responsibility.

Nadine Waters, Corinne Abernathy and Mavis Night wore smiles on their small, doughy faces that he just didn’t trust. He sipped the tea they’d offered him, and waited for the zinger.

It came with typical directness.

“As you know, Jonas, your aunt Fiona was president of our society for many years. In her absence, I’ve taken over the reins as interim president. However,” Corinne said, stopping for dramatic effect, “we think you should pick up where your aunt left off.”

Jonas set down his teacup. “Ladies, I don’t know the first thing about what this Society does. Nor do I have my aunt’s finesse in whatever it was she did, which mainly appeared to be—” He started to say “being a busybody,” but stopped himself.

“Running this town,” Nadine said, finishing his sentence. “And an admirable job she did of it, too. How Diablo misses Fiona’s sure-handed—”

“Interference,” Jonas said, not realizing he’d spoken aloud.

“Yes,” Mavis said. “There have been times when interference was called for. We could always count on Fiona to have the guts to make the calls that needed to be made, and to take responsibility for the issues that count most to this town.”

“Damn it!” There was that responsibility word again. Why was everyone determined that he was Mr. Fix-It? “I mean, darn it,” Jonas amended, and the ladies’ feathers seemed a bit less ruffled. “While I appreciate your generous offer—it’s quite humbling—I am just not your man.”

They looked at him, downcast.

“Well, I’m not.” Jonas met each gaze with as much diplomatic aplomb as he could muster. “I’m no good at busybodying—let’s call a duck a duck here. That’s what Fiona did. We all jumped to her puppet strings. But I’d make the world’s worst puppeteer.”

“You’d be an excellent ventriloquist,” Nadine said dryly. “A lot of yakking is coming from your mouth right now, Jonas.”

Their expressions seemed to say, Shame on you for shirking your duty!

Jonas sighed. “Really, ladies, I’ve got my hands full. I’ve bought a new ranch—”

“This is your home, whether you ever want to face that or not,” Mavis said. Her silver hair shone in the soft light of the tearoom. “We understand you wanting to separate yourself from your brothers and stake your own claim, but Diablo is where your heart is, Jonas. Even if Fiona did say you had wandering feet.”

He frowned. “We all did.”

Corinne shook her head. “No, Fiona specifically said you were the one who ran from home the minute you could, but unlike most wayward sons, you stayed gone. The only reason you’re here now is probably Sabrina.”

He brushed off his hat. They were right, blast their bright eyes and busy minds! If Sabrina wasn’t here, he’d be at Dark Diablo right now.

But he’d never considered himself a wanderer. “You know, I’d built a very successful practice in Dallas.”

“We know.” Nadine nodded. “And you can do that here.”

He stared, the notion crashing in on him like unwelcome waves. “Here? I don’t want… That is to say—”

“We know,” Mavis said. “You don’t want to live here. You don’t want to take care of the many elderly folk in this town who have tickers that need help just as much as those in the big city. Folks who helped raise you and kept an eye on you since you were in diapers.”

The guilt trip. It was a skillful ploy when used by the right people, and these three were pros. “I never thought about opening a practice here.”

“We know.” Corinne blinked at him. “We think taking this position as president would be a first step in getting your priorities straight.”

Mavis nodded. “Civic duty is a sign of maturity and commitment to community.”

Jonas flattened his mouth. In their minds, this position would begin to solder him to the town and community. But that wasn’t going to help him get his life back on track. Still, a little glad-handing and tea-sipping wouldn’t kill him.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll do it.”

Corinne clapped her hands. “I told you he would!”

Mavis sniffed. “Congratulations, president of the Books’n’Bingo Society and interim mayor of Diablo.”

“Wait,” Jonas said. “You said nothing about a mayorship.”

“Yeah, but it’s past time we had one,” Nadine said. “We appoint you until you can be duly elected.”

“I don’t want—”

“Civic duty,” Corinne said.

Jonas sighed. “Fine. Do you want me to watch the jail or build on to the elementary school or perform any other civic thing while I’m here?”

The ladies smiled at him with approval. “You just help us get Diablo on the map, and you can do anything you want.”

Jonas scowled. He had a new baby to take care of and parents to find. A ranch to get off the ground. Somehow these ladies had caught him in their cookie-baited trap.